Hunter's Moon
by LeeMarieJack
Summary: The Winchesters are lured out of their mountains to the Festival of the Hunter's Moon. Being tracked by fellow Hunters and getting put back on the Most Wanted list keeps them ducking and running. Hard to keep up with the Family Business while being shot at.
1. Chapter 1 - Meeting Sam by Moonlight

Sam and Dean Winchester are the property of Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW. I use them for my own amusement and no money is made from this story

A/N: This is the third story in a sequence that started with "**Sons of the Morning".** In that story Sam learns to turn into a Sphinx and Dean learns how to glow.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 1

**Meeting Sam by Moonlight**

First Verse

_The ash grove how graceful, how plainly 'tis speaking_

_The harp through its playing has language for me._

_Whenever the light through its branches is breaking, _

_A host of kind faces is gazing on me._

_The friends from my childhood again are before me_

_Each step wakes a memory as freely I roam._

_With soft whispers laden the leaves rustle o'er me_

_The ash grove, the ash grove, alone is my home._

The Ash Grove (Welsh _Llwyn Onn_) traditional Welsh folk song

First Published 1862

English lyrics by John Oxenford

I had stood on the bank of the Wabash River, west of Lafayette, Indiana and watched the sun lose its battle with the night. I had been stationed here by my hunting partner, Ed Gainer. It was his hunt and I was so flattered that he had picked me out of all the available hunters at the bar to go him on that chill October night.

Later I would find out that he picked me because I was young and stupid and I didn't know him or his reputation. He couldn't get anyone else to go with him; he had a knack for getting his partners killed. But he had offered actual cash. That should have set off alarm bells, but like I said, I was young and stupid.

Since I survived, I suppose that I'm not as stupid as I was before the hunt. I know two new things now, one, don't trust Ed Gainer, and two, if they offer money it's because they expect you to die so they don't have to pay.

My name is Silas, yes, Silas. If I live long enough to know anyone else I'll ask them to call me Sy but for right now, I'm stuck with Silas. I'd been hanging around the edges of the Hunter community for the past year hoping to pick up enough knowledge to keep me from getting killed.

I was raised in a small town southwest of Pittsburg and lived there my whole life. A couple of years ago strange things started happening in the family home. Stuff moved on its own, cabinet doors swung open suddenly and hit you in the face, glass jars started exploding inside the refrigerator, all this creepy stuff.

It got worse and worse and the house was so alive that something new happened constantly. I and my older brother and my mom were getting hurt one way or another almost every day. Then came the day that my brother was thrown through his bedroom room window; he hit the driveway two stories down and was hurt bad.

The ambulance driver told me that he thought there was a poltergeist in the house and if I wanted, he knew someone who could take care of it for us. I thought at first he was scamming us for money but as we were standing there going back and forth about it a heavy silver bowl flew right at him and opened up a gash on his head. He stood there, looking at me, holding on his forehead with the blood gushing over his fingers and said "If you value your mother's life, get her out of here."

After that we followed his lead. His name was Ronnie. We got out and stayed at a motel and Ronnie's friend Zack came to clean out the 'giest. I followed that man around like a puppy and did everything I could to be useful. After it was over, and the house was more or less wrecked but clean, my mother and brother came back but I left with Zack. I guess that was my first hunt.

Zack got killed in a cave in western Kentucky. Something ate him and I heard him die screaming. He had told me that most hunters died on the job and I guess he proved it to me too. I waited for dawn, went in the cave and gathered up the pieces I could find and burned him with salt, like he told me to do. Then I got in his car and started driving.

I ended up in a bar in West Lafayette, Indiana, near the Tippecanoe Battlefield, washing glasses and flapping my ears. Hunters gravitated to West Lafayette because of a Yearly Festival of the Hunter's Moon.

I guess it started as a joke The regular inhabitants were memorializing an old annual fall gathering of Native Americans and the French that took place in the mid-1700's. They had no idea that Hunters of the supernatural were starting to regard their festival as the Hunter's holiday festival. It was a good deal for the locals because the presence of so many Hunters made sure that the whole area was free of any kind of supernatural threat.

So back to why I was standing there in the October chill dampness with my hands going numb. Ed told me that we were going to get paid to shoot these guys called the Winchesters. I said I didn't kill humans and Ed said that the Winchesters weren't humans; they were monsters, so it was OK. They were fair game.

I still wasn't real happy about it but I had heard a little bit about these Winchesters already and the fact that they didn't seem to be able to stay dead, so I let it slide. Like I said, young and stupid. You don't go up against legends with a fool like Ed Gainer as a guide.

There was someone else with us in those woods but I never saw his face. He hung with Ed. I think he was the one who was paying for the hunt. The guy whose money we were going to get. Why he wanted to pay us to kill the supposedly un-killable Winchesters I didn't know; especially when they wouldn't stay dead. I guess that's the kind of information they call "above my pay-grade."

Ed said the guy wanted their bodies for some ritual; sounded witchy to me. Another sign I was too stupid to see.

Ed told me to hang back. I was going to be the fall back position for Ed and the other guy. I was supposed to watch this ridge line to the West because Ed said there was going to be a werewolf coming over that hill after moonrise.

"Look, Silas, this is what's going to happen," Ed told me. "There is a closer ridge in front of the one the wolf is going to come down. The Winchesters are almost ninety percent certain to wait there until they see it and then they're going to kill it. They'll be on that hill 'cause it's downwind from the higher ridge and the wolf won't be able to catch their scent. "

"That's why we are going to wait here. This place is downwind from where the Winchesters should pop up and they won't know we're here. We're going to wait for them to take out the wolf and then we're going to get them. Tom wants their bodies bad. When he has them we'll both get paid."

So there I stood, watching the moon climb slowly up over the ridge line. The Hunter's Moon is the first full moon after the Fall Equinox and got its' name from hunters who tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling for the winter ahead.

The moon I watched was huge and orange and looked like a giant wheel resting on the ridge line; the naked trees were outlined against it like a skeleton's fingers.

Just as Ed said would happen, a shambling dog-like creature appeared and trotted over the crest. Throwing its head up to scent the air, the moonlight glinted in its eyes. Even at a distance it did not look normal. It was too long, too large; there was something wrong with the length of the legs and back.

All three of us went on alert, breathing as softly as possible and freezing in place. Only our eyes moved, trying to separate the wind from other movement, knowing that the Winchesters were hunters themselves and would use the wind to mask their own movements.

Momentarily a head bobbed at the closest ridge line and disappeared. Another followed and disappeared as quickly as the first. Then the same rapid motion of the almost not there forms happened again. There was a quickness to the movements, like the movements of birds.

I heard Ed's voice "They're taking snap peeks at the wolf. Be still. Let them work."

The other man , Tom, I guess, said "What are they doing? Why don't they shoot? They have a clear line."

"At this point I think this might be Sam Winchester's kill." Ed replied. "Dean would have shot already; it's well within his range. Sam likes to get up close and personal and use his knives."

"Once, I heard, he had a wolf girlfriend. Evidently he likes to bang monsters. Just one more reason to make sure the Winchesters go down."

As I watched two figures appeared on the closer ridge line. I figured that was the Winchesters. Ed had been right about everything so far. The wolf had come down the face of the further ridge far enough to have disappeared into a little valley between the two ridges. The two figures separated. One went toward the wolf and the other disappeared off to the left. Still no gun shots.

I was about ten feet behind Ed, just close enough to hear his voice. There was a sudden burst of light from the valley behind the ridge but still no sound. It looked like silent fireworks going off. Ed barked "What the hell?" and he and Tom took off running toward the light.

Right at that moment something grabbed me by the collar of my coat and lifted me straight up into the tree I was under. Something else knocked my rifle away. I could swear it was a tail.

A second later I was deposited on a thick tree branch about ten feet up and I was looking at a giant cat.

"Hi," said the cat. "I'm Sam. Who are you?"

I started to shake so bad I almost fell off the branch. It put out a paw, I guess. I didn't think you could call it a hand but I think I was close to passing out so who knew?

"Calm down," it said. "Deep breaths. Be quiet or I'll kill you. Got it?"

"Got it," I pushed out. What, I'm going to tell it no? Breathing helped though and the ringing in my ears calmed down. My eyesight also expanded and the black curtain that had been beginning to fall pulled back up. I took a good look at the creature in front of me.

It was huge and it definitely was a cat. Covered in reddish colored fur it lounged comfortably along a thick tree branch with its back pushed up against the trunk of the tree. There was a tail. I could see it flicking up and back behind it. The creature was long and thin and had that loose jointed cat like smoothness to it.

"You have a name, I assume?" The damn cat 'assumed' I had a name. For some reason it struck me funny and I snorted.

"Yeah, I have a name. It's Silas." I answered. "You said you're Sam. Is that Sam Winchester? And what the hell are you?"

"OK, now you're getting spunky. Done trying to pass out?" the cat shifted his body and wings appeared. He used them to balance himself as he changed position. I had that passing out feeling again. It was the wings.

"Yes, I'm Sam Winchester." He looked up in the tree. "And here comes my brother Dean."

A body slid down out of the tree and over the cat's body. The cat crooked a knee and created a kind of cradle out of his legs. The new guy parked himself in the leg cradle and looked as comfortable as if he was in a hammock.

"Dean," the cat said. "This is Silas. For some reason he was hunting us with that ass Ed Gainer."

The cat looked back at me. "Right? You did this voluntarily? Ed didn't threaten you or hold your family hostage or promise to cut your girlfriend's throat or any of the other stuff that Ed has been known to pull? Oh, since you asked, I'm a Sphinx but you can just call me Sam for now."

Dean laughed.

"Silas, I recommend you get yourself a better class of friends. They just left you here. They've run away and abandon you. I guess they think we'll kill you and you won't need a ride home. Why the hell are you hunting us?"

"They offered to pay me. That other guy with Ed, I don't know him. His name is Tom and he offered Ed money to track you down. Ed said that Tom wanted your bodies for some kind of ritual."

Sam growled. He growled like a lion. It scared the crap out of me.

Dean smiled and put his hand out to me. I noticed that it seemed to be glowing with a soft looking gold light. I felt a lot better and my heart beat slowed back down to normal. I really liked Dean. His brother was freaking scary but I liked Dean. I knew he wouldn't let Sam hurt me.

Dean grasped my hand. "Come on, Silas. We'll drive you back to the bar." He swung me back down to the ground. Sam took Dean's hands and helped him drop to the ground beside me. Sam just stepped off the branch and used his wings to glide down to the ground.

Dean put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, the car's this way. Just think of all the points you going to get when people find out that you're still alive and you drove back with the Winchesters." He started to laugh again.


	2. Chapter 2 - Why We Weep

The Winchesters are the property of Kripke enterprises and the CW. The Criminal Minds crew is the property of the MarkGordon Co., CBS Television and ABC Studios. I don't own anything.

**A/N: ** If you want the details on why Dean glows and how Sam turns into a Sphinx you should read "Sons of the Morning". This story picks up as Sam and Dean are driving away from the last chapter of "Walt and Roy get What They Deserve"

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 2

**Why We Weep**

Second Verse

_Down yonder green valley where streamlets meander_

_When twilight is fading I pensively rove_

_Or at the bright noon tide in solitude wander_

_Amid the dark shades of the lonely ash grove_

'_Twas there while the black bird was cheerfully singing_

_I first met that dear one the joy of my heart_

_Around us for gladness the blue bells were ringing_

_But then little thought I how soon we should part._

The Ash Grove (Welsh _Llwyn Onn_) traditional Welsh folk song

First Published 1862

English lyrics by John Oxenford

The Impala peeled out of Elroys' parking lot, spitting gravel and dust over the assembled LEOs. Dean glanced in the rearview mirror as Sam looked back over his shoulder.

The SSA from Omaha's FBI Field Office, Ray Ellis, and the members of Quantico's Behavior Analysis Unit stood watching the Winchesters take off. Dean knew that their seeming paralysis would wear off very shortly. These were professionally trained agents watching as their confessed murderers drive off toward Valentine, Nebraska.

Walt's ashes lay in a funeral pyre fenced in with crime scene tape. Roy's headless body had left last night in a body bag. None of the law men standing in the parking lot had any clue what kind of reports they were going to turn in about meeting the Winchesters.

Spenser Reid turned to his Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner and spread his arms, his thin, long fingered hands turned upward. "What in the world are we going to say about this? I don't even know how to start explaining it."

Hotch just shook his head in sympathy. "No more than I do. This is just outside any of my experience. I do want to see, however, how you describe your conversation with a giant cat."

Derek Morgan stood still and indecisive. That was so out of character for him. He wanted to start a pursuit, capture the bad guys; bring justice to the men slain so brutally outside the bar. His gun was still clasped by both hands but they hung loosely in front of him. He had lowered it when Dean had used Garcia as a shield and had seen no use in raising it again when they released her and drove away.

The only agent moving decisively was the local FBI Agent, Ray Ellis. Well, he was as local as Omaha was; at least he was from Nebraska. He shielded his eyes from the morning sun and watched the Impala flee North up Route 20.

"We should go after them, "he barked out. "They're murderers and we're letting them drive away. "

Hotch came and stood next to Ellis, watching as the car got smaller and smaller.

David Rossi came over to join them. "It would be an interesting exercise. If you do catch them I don't know if you could charge Dean with much more than holding an officer hostage and interfering in an investigation. He certainly didn't rip the heads off the bodies with his bare hands. There were no cut marks on the recovered body. The burned body can be examined to see if there are cut marks on the remaining bones. Unfortunately there do seem to be fang marks on one of them."

"Right," said Ellis. "And we know who has fangs of that size, that cat. Oh, God," Ray hung his head. "I don't even want to think about the circus that would cause."

Reid chimed in with a thought of his own, "Even if you caught the cat, what would you do with him? Put him in the pound? Animal Services would not be pleased. That is, if you could convince Sam to become the cat for you. If you noticed, when they drove away Sam looked like your normal, everyday man. "

Hotch put a hand on Ray Ellis' shoulder. "I think right now the most we can do is reactive their 'Most Wanted' status. They obviously aren't dead."

Everyone headed to their vehicles and left for either Omaha or Valentine. , leaving the parking lot empty of everything except the yellow crime scene tape around Walt's funeral pyre, fluttering in the dry Nebraska wind.

XXXXXXX

Once they saw that the FBI agents weren't actively chasing them but instead simply leaving, the Winchesters relaxed. Dean adjusted the mirror and kept half an eye on the people he was blowing dust over. The Valentine police cars didn't look like they were taking up any kind of a chase.

Sam stretched one arm to the roof and one out the window.

"We got Walt riding with us, bitch? Dean asked.

"Yeah, he's in the trunk curled around his spine trying to work his collar loose." Sam responded and yawned. "Don't suppose we should stop for breakfast anytime soon?"

"Not for quite a while, maybe after about a hundred miles or so. Want to get as far away from our playmates as possible now, "Dean said. "We'll pull over later. There are some of your girly fruit bars in the back seat."

"Real attractive, Dean," Sam responded. He reached over the seat and fished around in the back.

"Shut up and eat 'em or starve for the next couple of counties."

"Where're we going?" Sam asked, unwrapping a Granola bar and watching the completely uninteresting landscape roll by. He was back to watching telephone poles flash by again. It made him a little car sick.

Dean glanced over. "I was kind of thinking of going up to Sioux Falls since we're so close and taking a look at Bobby's yard."

"What? You gonna' poke at that place like a sore tooth, aren't you?"

"Just like to keep an eye on it every now and then," Dean responded.

"You think someone's going to wander off with a burnt out car body?"

"Shut up, Sam. I'm driving and I say we're heading for Sioux Falls."

Sam settled in more comfortably, "I'll relax once we're North of Valentine. I know that we just left pretty much their whole police force back at the bar but you never know. Sheriff Dave might have called someone."

"Look around, Sam. There's no one to call. Valentine and a couple of wide spots in the road are just about all that the Sheriff has to play with. Get settled, Sioux Falls is about 300 miles away."

"Say Dean, since we're headed that way do you think we could maybe alter our normal route and go by Rapid City and up toward Spearfish? If we break off and go south on 85 we could swing by Carbonate," Sam suggested.

The dry Nebraska fields rolled by endlessly, flat and boring. Dean glanced over. "Never heard of it. What's in Carbonate?"

Sam checked the road behind them again. "Not much," he answered. "Carbonate is a former mining town in the Black Hills. Now it's a ghost town."

"Ha", snorted Dean. "Any real ghosts?"

"Don't know for sure", Sam replied. "It's a kind of tourist attraction now, maintained by the State. Lately some of the tourists have been disappearing. No bodies left behind. They just are there one minute and gone the next. Might be something for us, might be people just bailing out of their lives and running away."

"Well, I guess it's possible. We've seen people do that before. Something about wide open Western spaces kind of encourages them to run."

Sam raised his eyebrows at his brother. "So does that mean we can go, oh great, wise and ancient one?"

"One of these days I'm gonna smack that smart out of you."

Sam laughed. "You could if you could reach that high, Shorty."

"Bitch"

Peace reigned in the Impala. Lulled by the engine noise and the hiss of the tires on asphalt, Sam dozed off in the summer's heat.

Dean breathed easier as they passed Valentine's glorious and solitary stop light without pursuit. Then, consulting the map in his head, Dean set off north to Carbonate.

XXXXXXX

As they drove north up Route 83 the landscape began to change. The Nebraska flatlands began to rise and desiccate to a more typically arid Western landscape.

After they crossed the border out of the Nebraska panhandle and into South Dakota, the Black Hills began to rise on the left. The Black Hills are a group of low pine-covered mountains, sacred to the Sioux. Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills. In the late 19th century there was a Black Hills gold rush that triggered a number of Indian wars, ending with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

Dean poked at his sleeping brother. "Hey Sam, your missing all that history stuff you love."

"What?" a sleepy eyed Sam stirred and yawned. ""What'd ya' want?"

"Look, look out the window, historical markers and signs and all that crap and you're sleeping right through it." Dean really wanted Sam to tell him stories about the stuff going by outside the windows. He was bored and Sammy always knew about the landscapes they were driving through.

"OK," Sam looked around. "This is a historical and geologically interesting part of the West."

"I thought we were in the Mid-west," questioned Dean.

"The western side of the Missouri River, which divides South Dakota in half, is considered the beginning of the true West,"' Sam answered.

"There are many abandoned mining towns and closed mines all throughout the Black Hills. At one time there were extensive gold and silver and lead deposits but all the easy ones have been worked out by now. The Southwestern part of South Dakota contains many landmarks such as the Badlands, the Wind Cave National parks, the Crazy Horse Memorial and the historic town of Deadwood."

"So why are we skipping all this interesting stuff and heading up to Clambake?"

"Carbonate, Dean. Carbonate, not Clambake. You do this stuff on purpose to get under my skin, don't you?"

"If you haven't figured that out by now, little brother, you never will."

XXXXXXX

After passing through Rapid City, they followed the signs to Carbonate in the Black Hills National Forest. They pulled into the parking lot maintained by the Forest Service and found a bored looking Ranger sitting on a park bench.

The Ranger rose and came to the driver's side window. "You guys part of the T.V. crew?" he asked.

Always ready to take advantage of a situation Dean replied. "Yes, we're the scene scouts. And you are?"

"Ranger Randy Elsworth, pleased to meet you." He waved at a further section of the parking lot. "We have space reserved for you guys. You want to pull in over there?"

There were a couple of saw horses set up, blocking a large piece of the parking lot off. Hanging from the saw horses were big, hand written signs reading "Reserved for Ghost Quest parking only."

A smile tugged at Sam's mouth. "You know what this is, Dean? We've tripped across filming for that T.V. show 'Ghost Quest'. Have you ever seen it?"

"With the amount of daytime TV we catch, how could I have missed it? " Dean answered. "Did you catch the one where that guy, what's his name? Oh, yeah, Corey Putter, where he's in Las Vegas, on stage with a bunch of showgirls and he's wearing a pink boa? God, I laughed so hard I peed myself."

Sam restrained his laughter by pinching his nose, but it did no good. Dean didn't even know you could snort out your ears, but Sam managed to pull it off.

"Yeah, I saw it. Still don't know what it had to do with hunting ghosts but it sure got your attention." Sam finally cracked and laughed out loud.

They parked the Impala and walked back to where Ranger Randy was waiting for them. Dean kept repeating in his head;" Ranger Randy, Ranger Randy, Ranger Randy". It was beginning to look like a good trip. He hadn't felt this relaxed for a long time.

He smiled big at the Ranger and got a dimpled smile in return. They guy looked like he was hardly out of school; thin, young, dark haired with bright blue eyes he was an attractive youngster. If the Ghost Quest people had any sense they would get this one on camera. He would be as big an attraction as the park

"Thank you, Ranger. I'm sure this is going to be a great episode for the show. We're a little early. Do you know when you expect the rest of the crew?" Dean grabbed the Ranger's hand and shook it at the same time letting a little bit of glow activate. "By the way, I'm Dean and this is my partner, Sam."

"Well, you're not that early. I'm out here waiting for the first film truck to show up; otherwise I'd be in my office," the Ranger replied.

"See Dean," Sam chimed in. "I told you we should have been here yesterday. Now we're going to have to hustle to scope out the scenes before the gang gets here. Ranger, do you have a map of the site we can use?"

Ranger Randy replied, "I got one all set up for you with the ghost hot spots in the park all marked on it. It's on my office desk over there in the Park building."

He waved at a typical park service building at the end of the lot. The standard rectangular building with a concrete porch, handicapped ramp and safety railing, had been dressed up with siding that looked like weathered wood with nail heads bleeding rusty streaks.

"Just poke your heads in. You'll see my desk on the other side of the counter. Just pick the map up yourselves, if you don't mind. I have to stay out here and watch for the truck."

They could tell the Ranger was all excited. He could have waited in his office but this was a big deal to him. Dean looked around the empty lot. "You get a lot of visitors up here, Ranger?"

"Not really. We used to but they cut way back on funding for the parks lately and we stopped advertising the place state wide. We're hoping that this TV show will get the place noticed again. And the money they are paying us will really save our butts. A lot of the park needs just regular maintenance that we had to give up. I love this place and hate what's happening to it."

"Better days are coming, Ranger. Don't lose hope." Sam encouraged. "We need to get to work and get caught up. We'll just get the map and get going. Thanks."

"OK guys. I hope the map helps you hurry up. By the way, just call me Randy. Thanks."

They walked away from the thin young man in his forest green uniform and billed Ranger hat.

Sam looked back and waved. "Nice kid."

"Like you can call anybody 'kid'. I'd say he's your age. We better get moving before the circus arrives." Dean answered.

"You think we're going to be able to maintain this cover?" Sam raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"You know, if you don't stop wiggling your eyebrows at me I'm gonna tape them down."

"I think we can stay on crew." Dean said seriously. "The show tries to tell you that it's just these three guys wandering around but that's crap. They have a whole Travel Channel setup behind them. We'll just blend right in. A lot of these crews have people drop out and new people drop in all the time. They also like to hire locals for things like scene scouting, it can be cheaper. I hope the caterers are good."

XXXXXXX

Using Ranger Randy's map the Winchesters began to search the park for their own kind of 'hot spots'. Dean loved saying 'Ranger Randy' in his head like a mantra. He wasn't going to call him just Randy if he could get away with it. Dean began to feel disturbed by the mantra and the memory of the ranger's bright blue eyes. Maybe he better start watching this "glow" thing for unexpected consequences.

Of the original Carbonate buildings, pretty much only foundations still existed. There were a couple of ramshackle structures, but Dean thought they looked suspiciously as if they had been built out of the same wood siding as the ranger office.

He was carrying the EMF meter around with him. With Sam beside him the meter had lately become somewhat redundant but he liked it. They could wander off in two different directions and Dean could get hits by himself with the meter and he liked the flashing red lights. The whine still gave him a little rush when it went off. Sometimes even he thought he might have just a little too much of the kid left in his personality.

He watched Sam as his brother wandered off site closer to the stand of ponderosa pines at the south end of the ghost town. Glancing at Ranger Randy's map he went to the foundations marked as 'Fannie Hall's and Lottie Belmont's 'establishments'. They were close together on the barely scratched out 'Main Street'. Whorehouses, Dean supposed. The EMF meter gave off some weak flashes.

Sam had disappeared into the trees. He was a big boy; he could take care of himself. Even so Dean still got that old 'Where's Sammy' feeling. Continuing his exploration he looked to the North where the town was backed into the face of the mountain. He could see the opening of what looked like a mine. The tunnel gaped black, like an open wound in the side of the earth.

He set off for the mine. The closer he got, the more the meter flashed. When he finally arrived at the fenced off entrance there was a steady whine from the meter cutting through the still air. Lights danced up and down almost as if measuring a passing wind.

Looking up from the entrancing lights he saw Sam emerge from the trees. He started waving and gesturing and Sam waved back.

Soon the brothers stood together on the nice little board walk the Park Service had put up to keep the tourists' feet out of the dust. There were prominent signs with big red letters screaming "Keep Out" "Danger" and the ever popular "No Admittance".

Dean's meter had continued to happily whine. When Sam got closer the meter went bat-shit crazy. Dean shut it off.

"Nice one, Dean, " Sam congratulated his brother. "They are just swarming here. Something bad happened here; something to do with a fire." Sam turned and looked over the landscape. He pointed at jumbled pile of concrete and metal pilings.

"That's an old smelter." Sam said. "Bad spot for it. All the fumes would just roll downhill right into town under the right conditions, like a temperature inversion. Stupid people probably trying to save a buck, putting it close to the ore source. They may have killed everything in a couple of mile radius with it."

"If any of these ghosts have gone vengeful it could be what happened to the missing tourists. I may have found something else off in the trees." Sam seemed sad.

"I found another damn Indian massacre. There was evidently a tribe living here when the miners started moving in. I found their old campsite. There are definite ghosts there, all women mourning for lost children. They are weeping and don't even understand that they are as dead as their babies."

Sam went on. "I don't know what I can do for them. They are afraid of me, mostly likely because I am not their kind. I must look like the men who killed them and their kids. " His eyes shifted to Dean's. "Maybe you can save them. If we go looking for bones you can light them up. Even that's got to be better than the hell they're in now. They will mourn those kids for a thousand years and be in pain the whole time."

"OK," Dean responded. 'We can look for bones now and come back tonight to light 'em up. "

"We may have to wait for a little bit, " Sam said. "I think I hear trucks coming up the pass. We've got to go be a ghost hunter's best scene scouts ever."

"Don't' forget," Dean pitched in. "We're going to have to get rid of the real scene scouts. I wonder why they're not here already. They should have shown up yesterday."


	3. Chapter 3 - The Circus Comes to Town

Sam and Dean Winchester are the property of Kripke Enterprises and the CW. I don't own anything.

**A/N**: If you want to know why Dean has a pretty golden glow and how Sammy learned to change into a Sphinx you should read "Sons of the Morning".

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 3

**The Circus Comes to Town**

Final verse

_My lips smile no more, my heart loses its lightness,_

_No dream of the future my spirit can cheer._

_I only can brood on the past and its brightness_

_The dear ones I long for again gather here._

_From every dark nook they press forward to meet me,_

_I lift up my eyes to the broad leafy dome,_

_And others are there, looking downward to greet me._

_The ash grove, the ash grove, again is my home._

The Ash Grove (Welsh _Llwyn Onn_) traditional Welsh folk song

First Published 1862

English lyrics by John Oxenford

Sam and Dean walked back to the parking lot. When they got there Ranger Randy was doing his best to guide three huge white trailers into the space he had reserved. The vehicles were not nimble. There was the dressing rooms trailer, the office trailer and the film studio trailer. Randy was trying to get one each on the East, West and South sides of the lot in a neat square, leaving the North side open as an entrance.

Dean and Sam walked up. "Hey Randy, " Dean smiled. "Need some help?"

"That would be great guys. Do you see what I'm trying to do here?" Randy answered in a high pitched, stressed out voice.

Sam looked at the lot, "Yeah, it looks pretty simple to me."

"Then why can't these guys understand what I want them to do?" Randy whimpered.

Dean looked up at one of the drivers. The man was about twice Randy's age and obviously enjoying the grief he was inflicting on the young man. Dean reached up and opened the door and swung himself into the passenger seat.

Sam followed his brother's lead and picked out the more obnoxious looking of the two remaining drivers. He swung into that vehicle like Dean had done.

Dean looked at his chosen driver. "Do you have a license to drive a Class three vehicle in South Dakota?" the driver's hands froze to the steering wheel.

"Who are you?" The driver muttered. "You passing out tickets?"

Dean leaned back in the seat. "You just do what the Ranger wants you to do and all will be forgiven. Keep screwing with him and we'll call in the Head Ranger. You'll be walking home a poorer man. Dakota Rangers don't need to put up with your crap. The nearest bus stop is in a place called Spearfish about 25 miles away. We'll see to it that you walk every freaking step of the way."

Muttering under his breath the driver evidently decided that he didn't want to test the waters any further. The trailer slid neatly into place, just like Ranger Randy wanted. Dean looked up to see Sam's hostage doing the same thing. Dean wondered why kind of bull crap his brother had come up with. They would have to compare notes.

"I'm reporting this to my union, asshole." The driver decided to take another shot. "You can't threaten me."

"That's just what I can do," replied Dean smoothly. "This is the West. We'll lose you in the Badlands and you can be dinner for the vultures in about 48 hours, union or no union. So shut up and do whatever Ranger Randy wants you to do, even if it's flapping your arms and making noises like a chicken. Got it?"

Dean left the truck driver turning red. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack. Must be a joy on the highway, Dean mused.

Dean went back and stood beside Ranger Randy. He may, just may, have let his glow brighten a little. He liked Randy and thought the Ranger most likely needed a little petting after the antics of the truck driving assholes. Sam joined them.

"Did you guys find any good scenes?" Randy asked.

"Oh, yes," Dean responded. "The map was a great help. It got us right back on track and up to speed. We're pretty much back on schedule. As soon as we get the director's approval, we'll get the camera crews set up."

"I have some questions, Randy." Sam spoke up. "We've picked out the entrance to the mine, the whorehouse foundations and the edge of the trees at the South end of town as hot spots. Do you know of any historical incidents that took place at those spots?"

Dean cut in. "Those buildings still standing in town, they're all fakes, aren't they?"

Randy rubbed his chin, evidently a nervous habit. "You guys are good, aren't you? They teach you how to do that in 'scene scouting' school?"

Dean laughed, "No school, Randy. Just raw talent, as those idiots, the Ghostfacers, always claimed."

Randy went on. "OK, the buildings are fake. Only cultural historians find old building foundations fascinating. Tourists want more flash." He turned and spoke to Sam. "The three places you mentioned are definitely 'live'. I'm not supposed to say anything but the mine is where those tourists disappeared."

Sam nodded. "Perfectly understandable; don't want to scare the tourists that much. They're only up here for a little tingle from a maybe ghost; not a full-blown fright from a real one."

"You got it," agreed Randy. "No good if you think something's gonna' eat your kid. The whorehouse foundations were marked on the map. Not surprised that you picked them. And the woods, well that's a whole different thing."

"What'd mean a different thing?" asked Dean.

"Lots of weird noises down there among the trees, crying and wailing; don't like being there at night." Randy replied.

A couple of cars pulled into the lot. Randy waved them over and they parked in front of the 'office' trailer. Men started getting out of the cars and one of them gestured to Randy and Dean and Sam to come over.

"Hi, there" a sort of chubby, older man with thinning hair reached out to shake their hands." Karl McConna, Executive Producer." He turned to a second man standing behind him. "This is Pres Fowler, the Director." The director is a thin, tense little gray-haired man with an annoying habit of tapping a pen on his teeth. He nodded to the group. "And who are you all?"

During a lot of cross handshaking they managed to sort themselves out. "Ranger Randy Elsworth." "Sam and Dean Campbell, your scene scouts"

McConna paused. "I thought the scene scouts were a couple." He pulled out a small black notebook and flipped the pages. "An Addie and George Prescott, married couple, were who I was told I was going to meet."

Dean slid in smoothly, "Called away on a family emergency. Addie's mother had a stroke. George gave us a call and asked us to fill in. The agency didn't call you?"

"No, they didn't. Well you're here so that's OK. You want to take Pres around and show him what you found?"

Sam and Dean walk off with the Director. Behind them more cars pulled in and people began to unload equipment from trunks. A catering truck showed up and the noise began to increase. The only people who apparently hadn't shown up were the 'stars', Corey Putter, his partner, Jack Evans and their 'cameraman ' and straight man, Ben Twill.

The Director, Pres Fowler, liked their 'scene' locations and complimented them on discovering such good 'backgrounds'. He seemed pleased and kept sneaking peeks at Dean. "You do any acting, Dean?" He finally asked.

Dean smiled and backed off, trying not to let the 'glow' pull any crap. "No, no consideration at all. Never thought about it. Why?"

"I might want Corey to interview you and your brother about some 'paranormal' stuff you noticed while wandering around here. Don't worry; we'll write you up a script."

"That'd be great!" Dean responded just before Sam poked him in the back. "When would this air? Like, not right away, right?"

"This episode won't be scheduled for airing for at least two months, maybe longer. We already have a lot of finished product; enough for several weeks' worth of shows." Pres was fiddling with a little view finder and didn't see Dean smack Sam's hand away. "There'll be money in it for you two, more than what you're getting for the scouting."

"Sounds good to us," Dean agreed. "You got what you need? Ready to go back to the trailers?"

Pres walked in front on the way back down the hill. He could hear the Campbells arguing about something but couldn't quite make out the words. He would have been surprised if he had.

XXXXXXX

When they got back to the parking lot they found that the 'stars', Corey, Jack and Ben, had shown up.

Corey, a dark haired 'pretty boy' dressed in a tight T-shirt imprinted with glittery "Ghost Quest" insignia and tight jeans, came over to shake hands with Dean. He was evidently eyeing Dean as 'pretty boy' competition and not very happy about it. Dean gave him a huge smile, showing off his perfect white teeth and let out a little bit more on his glow. It made him look like he had the world's most fantastic suntan with a little bit of 'glitter' of his own.

When Corey held on to his hand and turned to introduce his partners, Dean saw a piece of a tattoo running up the back of Corey's neck. It was just enough of a peek to leave his fans, mostly women Dean thought, panting for more. Part of a tattoo on his bicep preformed the same tease.

"Pretty smart," thought Dean. "Bring 'em back hoping for more skin." He could see that working week after week and he wondered if this guy had anything else going on beside his body, like real ghost knowledge.

In the meantime Corey was introducing his partners, a quiet, thin man called Jack Evans and their "cameraman" Ben Twill. Twill had a kind of open goofy smile on his face and a goatee. He seemed the friendliest of the group.

Once again the Winchesters were treated to a round of cross handshaking. "Sam and Dean Campbell, your scene scouts and, if Pres Fowler is right, your second set of interviewees after Ranger Randy."

"Really?" Corey responded. "You know, we do all this stuff out of order on a show so why don't we just get this out of the way right now?" He waved to a group of technicians standing in front of the film trailer and Ben Twill hoisted his camera up on his shoulder.

"Well, Pres told us he would be getting us a script," Dean objected.

"Oh, I'm sure you guys can handle this," Corey smirked. "Just talk about all the good ghost stuff you saw around here." He glanced back at his partner, Jack and he shrugged, signaling his willingness to go along with whatever plans Corey had cooked up.

Dean caught on to what Corey was doing. He wanted to make the Winchesters to look like idiots. He expected them to freeze up on camera or stutter or not have anything to say and stand there with their mouths open. Dean thought to himself that Corey really wasn't focusing on the other 'pretty boy', Sam.

"Hold on for a minute, Corey,' Sam interjected. "Let me get a couple of things." He took off across the lot, aimed right at Pres Fowler.

In a few minutes grips were bringing over chairs and Pres Fowler was standing behind the camera men. The whole set up was impromptu but was taking on a professional air. Corey had a canvas director's chair shoved into the back of his legs and a mike pushed into his hands while the Winchesters got chairs too. Sam saw to it that Dean was seated in front. Corey would have to perform gymnastics to block a shot of Dean's face now.

Corey did a perfunctory introduction but in, at least, a professional manner, then turned and shoved the mike in front of Dean's face in a last ditch effort to conceal him.

Dean put up a hand and pushed the mike away, "Corey, you need to ask Sam about what we found out. He's the detail man of our team."

That did it. Corey gave up and put the mike in Sam's face

Now Sam was off and running. Corey was going to find out that trying to stop Sam from talking was like trying to stop a waterfall by standing under it.

"Taking things in a chronological order, the first site we should visit is the woods at the South end of town. That is the site of the oldest incident here, the murder of a peaceful Sioux camp, mostly women and children. The first settler here was James Redpath in 1881 who started a simple apple orchard. The orchard is still here and he existed harmoniously with the tribe but when a gold strike was made and the miners moved in around 1885, the tribe was doomed. The laws of the time allowed massacres of 'savages' without repercussion and the whole tribe was slaughtered one night. We should visit the camp at night because that's when you are supposed to be able to hear the women weeping for their lost children."

"The next best site is the entrance to the Iron Hill Mine, up behind the town to the North." Sam took a breath and Corey jumped into the flow of wards.

"That's very interesting, Sam." Corey said, trying to wrestle control of the interview back.

Dean snorted. Good luck, he thought. He knew it took more than that to stop Sam in full flood.

"Not done, yet, Corey" Sam went on, taking another deep breath first. "There were a bunch of intersecting mines in the hills and an adjoining mine, the Seabury-Coffin mine's miners accidently dug into the Iron Hills Mine. It turned out to be a good thing because during a mine fire the only miners that made it out went out through Seabury-Coffin. The rest of the miners burned to death in the Iron Hills Mine and the bodies were never recovered. Once again at night you're supposed to be able to hear them screaming and the ghosts supposedly cluster around the exit they were never able to reach."

"Holy crap, man. "said Jack Evans. "You tell these stories really well." Ben Twill and the other camera men were all zoomed in on Sam's face.

"One last thing. Some idiot built a smelter in front of the Iron Hills Mine in 1887. The fumes from the smelter, which was on hill above the town, flowed down and killed every cat in town. The rats moved in and in 1891 a diphtheria epidemic struck. The two whorehouses, Fannie Hill's and Lottie Belmont's were used as morgues, cutting down on the parties considerably. The signs that read "Keep out Black Diphtheria" stayed in place until 1910. That and the decline in silver prices, pretty much killed the town off. There was sporadic mining afterwards but the town's last resident, an old man named Raspberry Brown, died in 1939." Sam, amazingly, stopped talking. Dean thought it was amazing.

Pres Fowler looked ecstatic. He had very useable material just about fall in his lap. Dean felt that his and Sam's positions with this group were solid. Corey Putter looked a little pissed off, but they could live with that.

Pres Fowler spoke up. "I can see filming in front of the mine and in front of the trees where the Indian camp was, but what can we film for the whorehouse story? "

"There are a couple of picturesque fake buildings the Forest Service built for the tourists. They are almost right next to the whorehouse foundations. You could film in front of them or just have them in the background as you stand in the whorehouse foundations." Dean suggested.

Pres looked at him "You know, you two guys are the best scene scouts I have ever met. Do you get a lot of work up here in the boonies?"

"We do OK," Dean responded. "And we like the wide open spaces. Not much for city living."

XXXXXXX

There was still plenty of daylight left so Pres decided that they would film the whorehouse site first. As they all trailed over together, Dean noticed that Sam was missing. He wondered what his brother was up to.

There was, of course, the problem of Walt still chained to his spine in the trunk of the Impala. It was something that Sam needed to take care of but, even so, Dean was willing to bet that Sam was contemplating letting the cat out to play. Corey could be an asshole, even if he was cheerful about it and Dean knew his brother didn't appreciate Corey's efforts to stand in Dean's light. He just hoped it didn't get nasty because the Sphinx seemed to lack a sense of humor.

It took a while to set up for the shoot and get everyone placed. Dean just stood back and watched, keeping an eye out for Sammy. Finally, after it seemed like forever; the camera focused on Corey and he started telling Sam's story about the whorehouses getting used as a morgue.

Things were progressing smoothly when there was a loud click and the door on the fake building started to open ever so slowly. Every eye switched over to the building, except Dean's. He had a real good idea who was opening that door.

Corey played right into the camera…"Ben, did you get that?" He acted all excited and ramped up the tension. Dean had to admit that Corey was good at his job.

The whole lot of them started moving toward the building. Corey's partner, Jack Evans was out in front. He entered the building and let out a loud shout. "What the hell! Somebody get in here with me!" Corey pushed the door open wider and everyone got a good look at what appeared to be a human spine lying on a table in the middle of the room. Opening the door let the sunlight play over the bones and there was no mistaking what they were all looking at.

Dean put his head in his hands and sat down in one of the spare canvas director's chairs, muttering to himself, "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy."

The door suddenly slammed shut and everyone heard Jack Evans scream. The cameras kept rolling. Pres Fowler seemed to be beside himself with excitement. Dean was close enough to hear the man mumbling, "Best episode, ever. This is great. Best one."

Just then the door was flung open and Jack Evans stumbled out. Corey ran up and grabbed his partner's arms. "Are you alright, Jack? Are you OK? What happened in there?" Corey waved to a grip, "Get him a chair and some water!" There was a scurry of activity and a chair and a bottle of water was there almost instantly. Ghost Quest was dropping the "three guys alone in the wild" ploy in favor of taking care of one of their own.

Jack took a drink then put his head down by his knees. "I saw a giant cat. It came up from behind the door and slammed it. The damn thing was seven feet tall. I think it had wings and it was transparent Then it took the spine in its teeth and disappeared. We got anything better than water?"

"It said 'have a nice day' before it disappeared." Jack's hands were still shaking. "Have a nice day, my ass."

Just then, Ben Twill dropped his camera and screamed.

"What the hell is going on around here?" Corey didn't seem to know which way to turn.

"Something ran its hand down my back. I felt it. It scared the crap out of me." Ben Twill, already excitable by nature, was now shaking. Another grip brought another chair and some more water.

Pres Fowler was almost dancing, he was so happy.

Dean sat still, holding his head in his hands and trying not to laugh. He was going to have to take it back. The Sphinx did have a sense of humor.

Corey Putter looked around the shambles that was his film setup. His partners were having breakdowns. His Director appeared to be dancing a jig. The one thing he did notice among all the other madness was that guy, Dean Campbell, was sitting there laughing.

"Campbell,' Corey snapped. "Where's your partner?"

XXXXXXX

When they all made it back to the parking lot there was general agreement that everyone needed some rest. There would be no further filming now. The night shots would happen tomorrow night. Dean was in total agreement. Sam needed some time to get back from Plitvice. Then Dean needed some time to slap his brother around for being a smart ass.

Dean sat on the hood of the Impala with a beer in his hand, waiting for his brother. He had eaten from the catering truck, his favorite Hollywood tradition and he was content just to sit and watch the stars. Because he wasn't hunting, his guard was down. Something he should have never allowed. He was unaware that Corey Putter and his partner Jack Evens were watching him from inside their trailer with the lights out

It had taken Corey a while to convince Jack that keeping an eye on Sam and Dean was important. Jack had been with Corey for a number of years now and, even though Corey could be very annoying, Jack knew that there was a mind behind that 'pretty boy' face and he had come to trust Corey's judgment If Corey said there was something 'off' about the Campbells, then Jack was ready to go along for the ride.

Sometime shortly after ten at night Sam came walking out of the woods. He climbed up on the Impala's hood and took the beer Dean was holding for him.

"Walt all settled in his new home?" Dan asked.

"Oh yeah," Sam agreed. "He's just freaking out completely. Pulling at his collar like a rabid dog. At least he has Roy to talk to. They deserve each other for the next thousand years or so."

The Winchesters tapped their bottles together and Dean saluted "To Walt and Roy, may they live happily together for the next thousand years."

Their laughter pealed softly through the parking lot.

Corey and Jack appeared out of the darkness and confronted the Winchesters. "Just who are you guys? Where have you been Sam? You have anything to do with that show out by the foundations today? "

Sam looked them straight in the eyes. "Just what the hell could I have to do with what happen today?"

"Well, you were the only guy missing." Jack said.

"What about it? What do you think I did?" Sam answered.

"Just be aware that we are watching you guys. Any more weird stuff goes on and we're going to do something about it." Corey huffed.

"Oh?" inserted Dean. "And just what would that be, cupcake?" He slid off the car and pushed into Corey's face. They were of a height and squared off nose to nose.

Jack grabbed Corey's arm. "Come on before he busts you in the face. That would delay the show by days if you had to heal up. Knock it off, you two. Sam's right. What are we accusing them of? Turning into a giant transparent cat? Come on." Jack dragged his hot-blooded partner off and back to the trailer.

XXXXXXX

Sam and Dean settled into the Impala. Their choices were limited. They could drive all the way back to Spearfish, they could sleep in the car or, if Randy was still around, maybe they could sleep in the office. For right now they decided to make their hunting plans in the impala. It was the most private place they could think of.

"Do we have a plan, Sam? What's going on around here?" Dean asked.

"There are two mild mannered female ghosts by the whorehouse. They are almost gone on their own, fading away to mere wisps. I don't think they are bothering anyone but themselves. They worked in the houses and their pain took place so long ago they have almost forgotten what they are waiting for. It wouldn't take much to move them along. A word or two is all they need. A reminder that they are dead now and no longer tied to the house. You could do it, just standing there and telling them to go." Sam looked at his empty hands. "Or we could just ignore them. They will eventually fade."

"The Sioux are more difficult. Their hundred years of mourning have welded their spirits into place. They grieve daily for their lost children and the pain keeps them here. I think they will need to be salted and burned.'

"We should go start digging," Dean said. "We can burn them tomorrow night but get it all prepared in the daylight, if we can get away from these people."

"The really tough one is the mine ghost." Sam continued. "I think it has turned vengeful. We can't get to the bones; they are in the mine somewhere. I don't know where it is hiding the missing tourist bodies and, I suspect, our missing scene scouts, Addie and George. Let alone how it made their car disappear."

Sam went on. "I can't talk to it; it's not interested in talking. It's only interested in killing. I think we are looking at a spell now; something to bind it and seal it. I'll have to do some research."

"That's the plan then. First thing is finding and digging up those Sioux bones." Dean slapped his leg awake and opened the car door. "These Hollywood types are probably going to sleep past noon, especially if they are going to do the scene at night. Let's start digging."

"No, Dean, let's do it in the morning. Less noise then if we have to shoot some attacking spirits with the shot guns." Sam objected. "Right now, let's get a little sleep". They settled themselves into the embrace of the Impala, as they had done a hundred times before.

XXXXXXX

That night, after sunset, the film crew and Sam stood where everything had been set up in front of the trees for this segment of Ghost Quest. Everything was in place to try and capture the Sioux women crying for their children. Once again, Corey was front and center, whispering the tale that Sam had told them days ago about the massacre of the Innocents.

Things seemed to be proceeding nicely. The wind through the ponderosa pines recalled the weeping of long ago. There was a heavy sense of sadness throughout the area. Night had fallen and the sky was full of stars.

Just as Corey was winding up his story the cameras began to pan the trees. Twinkling light of fires appeared, one after another. Sam knew there should be seven. That was the number that they had dug up, salted and soaked in gasoline.

Might as well give the TV show another boost, they decided. They didn't want to burn in the day time. Smoke attracted the forest service like flies to honey. These small, hot and quick fires they hoped would escape the service's eagle eyes. They had forgotten about Ranger Randy.

Randy ran past Sam towards the fires with a phone to his ear. Sam tripped him and in 'helping' him back to his feet, stepped on the phone. Sam felt pretty good about his deception until he raised his eyes and found Jack Evans staring right at him. Sam now knew he had two strikes against him.

Moments later Dean materialized beside him, apparently coming from the parking lot, not the trees. "All done?' asked Sam.

"No problems," Dean replied. "They didn't even attack they were so bound up in their single minded grief. Never felt better than about a salt and burn than this one. That had to be stopped."

"Let's go tonight and take care of the mine ghost." Dean said. "I really think we've been here too long. Something's going to happen."

"We never found the bodies or the car." Sam reminded him.

"Let it go, Sam." Dean replied. "They could have been lured anywhere in this forest. We don't have time to search under every leaf and cave on the whole mountain. It's past time that we left."

They walked back to the parking lot, leaving their new found 'friends' behind them. Winchesters with itchy feet should not be impeded. Sam sat on the ground behind the car and mixed up the necessary materials. When he was finished he had a Mason jar of what looked like brown paint and a bucket of various dried and aromatic herbs.

They took off to seal and bind the mine ghost.

Once at the mine entrance Sam painted every flat surface he could find with esoteric looking symbols, chanting as he went. Dean stood guard to make sure they were not disturbed.

After Sam's art project was finished he sat down cross legged on the ground and set his bucket of herbs on fire. Still chanting he waved the smoke toward the entrance. Finally, after the fire went out, Sam rose from the ground.

"Finished?" Dean asked.

Just then a voice broke in on them. "Just what are you finished with?" Corey Putter and Jack Evans stepped out of hiding.

Dean turned to face them, letting them see his gun. "Come on, Sam. Let's get out of here."

Corey put his hand on Sam's arm. "Tell us, what is all this?"

Sam looked into the men's eyes. They seem sincere. "This is the real deal. This is what you were supposedly looking for when you started out on your quest, before it all turned into a T.V. show. Let us go. We're finished here. You should never see us again."

Dean pitched in. "You people should be careful what you stick your noses into. Someday something real is going to bite you on the ass and either you'll die or one of your buddies will die. Better you stay out of the dark."

No one had anything else to say. The Winchesters left for their car and twenty minutes later were down the road and gone.

XXXXXXX

Two and a half months later, after the Ghost Quest – Carbonate episode aired, the Ghost Quest crew found out just who had been on the set with them. The FBI arrived for copies of the film and the word Winchester made the episode the most popular ever.


	4. Chapter 4 - South Dakota Badlands

**A/N:** In Chapter Three the TV Show I was parodying was Ghost Adventures with Zak Bagans, a Travel Channel reality show. Due to my narrow viewpoint I did not realize that a great many readers would have no idea what I was talking about. Bagans got his start out of Las Vegas and I guess his show is predominantly seen on the West Coast of the USA. So sorry. There is a web site so you can look if you are interested.

Sam and Dean Winchester are the property of Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 4

**South Dakota Badlands**

The Three Ravens

_There were three rauens sat on a tree,_

_Downe, a downe, hay down, hay downe_

_There were three rauens sat on a tree,_

_With a downe_

_There were three rauens sat on a tree,_

_They were as blacke as they might be._

_With a downe, derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe_

_The one of them said to his mate,_

"_Where shall we our breakefast take?"_

_Downe in yonder greene field,_

_There lies a knight slain under his shield._

_His hounds they lie downe at his feete,_

_So well they can their master keepe._

_His haukes they the so eagerly,_

_There's no fowls dare him come nie._

_Downe there comes a fallow doe,_

_As great with young as she might goe._

_She lift up his bloudy hed,_

_And kist his wounds that were so red._

_She got him up opon her backe,_

_And carried him to earthern lake._

_She buried him before the prime,_

_She was dead herself ere even-song time._

_God send every gentleman,_

_Such haukes, such hounds, and such a leman._

Scottish Folk Song

Melismara, Musicall Phansies Fitting the Court, Cittie, and Countrey Humours, London, 1611

The Winchesters pulled out of Carbonate, leaving the film trucks behind. As they left the parking lot, after the long and busy night, the sun began to rise and Ranger Randy came out of the office.

"You guys out of here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dean told him. "Our part is over. No good reason for hanging around now."

"Wait." Sam leaned forward to look at Randy's face. "Do you know of any other abandon mine sites around here? Something that might still be open and large enough for, say, a car to be hidden in?"

Randy looked at Sam oddly. "That's a kind of weird question. Why would you want to know something like that?"

Sam paused. "Randy, do you trust us? " He then poked an elbow into Dean's side and whispered "Turn on the glow."

Randy got a dose of Dean's charm right in the face. "Why sure. There's the mine entrance to the Seabury-Coffin mine right up the road. It's just outside the park entrance. You want me to show you?"

Randy stood with his hat in his hand almost scuffing his boot toe in the dirt. He was blatantly ogling Dean; as blatantly as his shy, fresh-faced innocence would allow.

Dean felt like a cradle-robber but he went along with Sam's plan. "That would be great! Would you mind showing us? We'll bring you right back here. It shouldn't take long to find what we're looking for."

Randy practically dove into the back seat. He leaned forward into the back of Dean's seat and, chattering on all the way, he pointed out the mine entrance when they were about two miles down the road. Dean pulled over, off to the side. He could see broken branches and crushed grass leading straight to where Randy was pointing. He also thought he could see tire tracks on the shoulder of the roadbed.

Sam got out of the car. "Why don't you guys just stay here? I'll check it out and see if it's a good site for filming. Be right back." He took off up the newly forged trail.

Randy put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "So you guys are out of here, right? No possibility that you're going to be coming back here?"

Dean looked anxiously out the windshield, hoping to see Sam's tall, loping figure coming back. "Oh, I wouldn't say that, Randy. We might circle through here again. We intend to go see some friends of ours up in Calgary after we hit Sioux Falls and this is on the way."

The passenger door opened unexpectedly and Sam plopped into his seat.

"I didn't even see you coming, man!" Dean exclaimed.

Sam turned in the seat. "Let's get Randy back to his office, Dean. Someone could be looking for him."

"Oh, yeah," Randy spoke up. "I don't know what I was thinking of! I shouldn't have left the park."

Dean had turned down his come-hither aura and now Randy was coming out of his trance. They pulled back on the road and a few minutes later were putting their Park Ranger friend back where he belonged.

"What's up, Sam?" Dean asked. "Did you find something?"

"Oh, they're there alright. I could see the back end of the car and the smell is so freaking strong I think it'll hit the road at some point. It might even be all the bodies." Sam took a deep breathe. "Ugly as it's going to be, we're going to have to handle this before we can pull out. That mine entrance is prime spirit territory. We're just going to be coming back if we don't deal with it."

Dean groaned. "God, I hate body detail but you're right. We got to deal. Let's go set it up. I have an idea how to handle it and get us out of here."

Back at their parking space Dean opened up the trunk. The brothers gathered together burlap bags and shovels, salt bags and cans of kerosene. Sam was ready to pick up stuff and take off when Dean stopped him.

"Get bandanas and camphor out of the glove compartment. We're going to have trouble breathing with all those bodies lying around. And give me a few minutes. I got to make something."

Sam watched as Dean made a timing device out of an old alarm clock that he had stashed in the trunk. Sam knew there were several clocks in the trunk but had not really thought about why they were there.

When Dean finished he turned to Sam. "OK, we're going to have to get all the bodies in the car and then gather up all the brush and wood we can find to turn the car in a funeral pyre for these people. I'm going to set this timer so the fire starts later tonight in the dark. The Fire Watch won't see the flames inside the mine and it'll be dark enough to hide the smoke."

"Good one, Dean." Sam approved. "We can be long gone by the time this goes off."

"Right," Dean responded. "Maybe even as much as five or six hours down Route 90 on our way to Sioux Falls, finally."

They set off for the entrance to the Seabury-Coffin mine. Sam was thinking that the mine was really earning its' nickname now. It was really the Seabury-Calkins mine but everyone had called it the Seabury-Coffin because of the high number of miner's deaths. Now it had claimed six more dead.

It took hours to scrape up the tourists' bodies and put them in the scene scouts' car. All the time Dean was wondering how the mine ghost had pulled this off. Drawing the tourists off to follow it Dean could understand but how had it convinced Addie and George Prescott to drive into the mine entrance? He supposed he would never know but it bothered him.

"You know, Sam," he spoke up behind his camphor soaked mask, "it might be a good idea to come back through here and check on that mine ghost again. This is one strong mother and I don't know how much faith you put in your rituals. What do you think?"

"You looking to come back and see your boyfriend again?" Sam laughed.

"Shut up, Sam." Dean growled. "Just keep shoveling. Make sure you get all the good bits up, bitch."

They built the pyre, mined it with kerosene cans and Dean set his timer to blow a can at just about midnight. Covering the face of the mine with brush as well as they could they finally left.

"Let's get to a motel," Sam said. "I'm not riding in this car for hours smelling like this. This is disgusting. I need a long shower and so do you unless, of course, you want the car smelling like the grave. What, special effects?"

XXXXXXX

After spending the morning and early afternoon in a motel in Sturgis off Route 90, cleaning up, eating and taking naps, they were finally on their way. Route 90 cut right across South Dakota from Rapid City all the way to Sioux Falls.

Dean felt good to be moving again, the dry wind blowing the stink of their latest adventure out of the car. He was hoping nothing else would come up but, of course, he was not surprised when about 75 miles east of Rapid City Sam started going "Oh, oh, oh , Dean. Look!"

"What is it, Sam?" Dean asked, marveling how his supposedly adult brother could still channel his inner 6 year old.

"Badlands National Park! The cut off is right ahead. Come on, Dean, let's go. Just to ride around it. Come on. We need dinner anyway." Sam was just about vibrating in his excitement and pointing at the Forest Service signs.

Dean knew there was no hope. He could see the red striped crags off to the right, glowing in the sunlight. The sign ahead pointed to the "Park Loop Road".

Sam spoke again "Look, we can drive the Loop around the park and at the end is the Visitors Lounge. We can eat there. We can even sleep there if it gets too late. I would really like to see the geologic formations. And there are buffalo herds, and prong horn antelope and mule deer. It'll be great. Let's go."

"Alright, keep calm." Dean responded. "Who am I to deny you buffalo herds? But I swear, Sam, this is it. No more diversions. We are going straight to Sioux Falls after this if I have to tie you in the trunk or blindfold you. This is it."

"Thanks, jerk." Sam responded. "You're all heart. I know you want to see the buffalo too. You still have an enquiring mind, as much as you try to hide it."

They drove through the alien landscape. In addition to the striped crags rising all around them in every possible shade of red and pink there were strange striped rolling grey hills, all rock but laid down like sand dunes. It was hard to believe such soft looking shapes were really rock. They drove beside great stretches of grassland and occasionally caught sight of a mule deer or pronghorn head poking up into the air as the car rumbled by.

Dean had to admit he was enjoying himself listening to his brother go on about the different geologic processes and ages of formations. They were evidently looking at rock laid down as far back as the Cretaceous at 75 million years up through the Oligocene Epochs a mere 26 million years old. This land had changed time and time again from sea, to tropical land and then open woodland with meandering rivers, leading to the accumulation of various colored sediments.

Sam knew all the names, the Sharps Formation with its light colored rock, the Rockyford Ash, a dark volcanic layer and the brown Brule Formation. His voice washed over Dean, spinning him deep into the past, envisioning a living world. Once a sea covered all this land then the Rockies started to rise and like tipping a plate the land rose and the water flowed away.

Dean was awakened from his dream by Sam poking at his arm. "Visitors' Lounge up ahead. You want to stop for dinner?" They pulled into the lot and entered the rustic, welcoming building. Beside the tourists it looked like the locals liked this place too. Several booths and tables were filled with families and the bar was full of old men nursing their beers.

While waiting for seats in the bar Dean read the "Did You Know?" posters in the lobby. He thought they were put up for the school kids but some of them were interesting.

"Hey Sam." Dean smiled, he rarely got to tell Sam something his brother didn't know, "Did you know that four species of wildlife have been reintroduced into the Badlands since it was established as a National Monument in 1939? The black footed ferret, bighorn sheep, bison and swift fox, once exterminated are again thriving in their native habitat."

Sam grinned back, "No Dean. I did not know that. Thanks."

Their names were called and they were led to a table in the dim bar. Next table over was held by an old man. As Dean looked at him, he modified the thought to an old, old man. His skin was weathered and lined like old leather. His eyes were slits from years of squinting into the sun. The hand that held his beer, though, did not shake. He seemed asleep but the beer was suspended in midair and not a drop was lost. Where ever the man's mind was wandering, his physical coordination seemed spot on.

He jerked out of his dream and looked directly at Dean "I remember you."

Their waitress put a hand on the old man's arm. "Now George, I don't think you know this man. He just got here."

She looked at Sam and Dean and smiled. "I can move you, if you like. George remembers the past real good but he can have a shaky grasp of the present. He's harmless. He just likes to talk about the old days."

"No, no," said Sam. "That's fine. If we weren't interested in the old days we wouldn't be here, would we? He's fine. I sure he'll be good company."

"OK, " said the waitress. "I'm Penny. Let me get you your drinks and do you know what you want to order?"

After Penny left George again turned to look at Dean.

"I remember when I first saw you, back in the twenties when I worked in the General store out at Galbreth's."

"All smirks and smiles and bright white teeth; all shiny like a new copper penny, young and fresh and ready for life. You bought that dress for Annie when the rain came down like gold tear drops in the sand."

The old man stopped to sip at his beer. Dean was thinking he was a poet; bringing the old days back to life.

"You bought new dresses for your ladies back at del Moro; red, blue and green calico with printed flowers and ribbons. The green one was for Annie Prentice. I remember looking at it and there seemed to be a hole, like an explosion marred it from the inside out, on the left side.'

"Later, when Annie died decades afterwards from some internal problem I would recall that fluctuating hole that appeared and vanished on that dress and I wondered if it had been a curse or a warning."

A chill ran through the room and both Sam and Dean paused and listened.

"Long afterward I would remember you but your image faded into memory like an aging photograph, diming into sepia colored tones and passing away."

The old man put down his beer and walked away. Sam and Dean sat, struck dumb. They had no idea of what had just happened or what it meant, if anything at all.


	5. Chapter 5- A Night in the Badlands

Sam and Dean Winchester are the property of Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 5

**A Night in the Badlands  
**

_Early one morning just as the sun was rising_

_I heard a maid singing in the valley below,_

_O don't deceive me, O do not leave me!_

_How could you use a poor maiden so?  
_

_O gay is the garland, fresh are the roses_

_I've culled from the garden to bind upon thy brow. _

_O don't deceive me, O do not leave me!_

_How could you use a poor maiden so?  
_

_Remember the vows that you made to your Mary_

_Remember the bow'r where you vow'd to be true;_

_O don't deceive me, O do not leave me!_

_How could you use a poor maiden so?  
_

_Thus sung the poor maiden, her sorrow bewailing,_

_Thus sung the poor maiden in the valley below;_

_O don't deceived me, O do not leave me!_

_How could you use a poor maiden so?  
_

English Folk Song first printed in

William Chappell's 'National English Aires', 1855-1859

Ray Ellis pulled into the parking lot of the historic South Dakota Ghost Town of Carbonate. As he went past the entrance he noticed a Forest Ranger coming out of small building right next to the lot. The Ranger waved at him and Ray pulled over.

"Hi," the young Ranger said, pushing his hand in the open car window to try and shake Ray's hand. "I'm Ranger Randy Elsworth. Are you the FBI agent that called earlier?"

"Yes," Ray answered. "I'm Ray Ellis, Special Supervisory Agent out of the Omaha office. I made the call. I'm trying to follow up on a couple of guys driving a black 1967 Chevy Impala. Don't know what they've used as a last name but they usual stick to calling themselves Sam and Dean."

"Oh, yeah," the Ranger replied. "The scene scouts. Nice fellows. They left here yesterday morning;. Said they were on their way to Sioux Falls."

"Really? They just told you that? You didn't happen to have asked them where they were going?" Ray was concerned that the Winchesters might have just made something up to fill in the Ranger's question.

"No, I had asked Dean if they were coming back this way and he said they might be after they went to Sioux Falls because they were going to pass by here on their way up to Calgary."

Ray sat and thought about that for a minute. "They didn't ask you for directions or anything did they?"

"Just want to know where the entrance to the Seabury-Coffin mine was, but that was earlier, before they left. I guess they wanted to check it out for the TV people." Randy didn't even register the agent's interest in that piece of information.

"Why don't you show me now? Take me to where you took them." Ray waved at his passenger door, indicating that Randy should get in.

He turned the car and drove back down the forested roadway. After a couple of miles the Ranger pointed to the side of the road. "There it is. See where the brush has been trampled down?"

Ray pulled over and indicated that the Ranger should stay in the car. He followed the broken brush until he got close enough to the gapping maw of the mine entrance to be able to see that there appeared to be a car parked inside. Pulling his gun he came up on the car close enough to see that it had been lit on fire. He could see a burned skeleton propped up against the steering wheel.

There were no plates on the burned out hulk but he was aware of a report about a missing couple driving a Toyota sedan similar in size to the burned car.

Ray returned to his car and the now concerned Ranger.

"What's going on?" Ranger Randy asked. "Why are you after Dean and his partner?"

Ray picked up his radio and while looking the Ranger straight in the face, reported to the police station in Spearfish. "Ray Ellis, FBI. I think I've found your missing couple, Mr. and Mrs. George Prescott. I've got a burned out car hidden in an abandon mine on the access road to Carbonate."

He let go of the speaker button and listened to some faint squawking coming out of the radio.

"Well, all that I can tell you is that it looks like the Winchesters are back. That's who I'm chasing. The agency has re-activated their 'Most Wanted' status as of last week. "

XXXXXXX

Sam and Dean had spent the night, more or less, in the motel attached to the Badlands' Visitor Center. After eating and moving into the room they had showered and Dean decided he wanted to hit the bar. Sam, however, was restless.

"What are you going to do, Sam?" Dean asked, concerned about his brother's pacing. Sam usually went with Dean to the bar when Dean was cruising and sat quietly nursing a beer and working on the laptop. Tonight though Sam seemed all stirred up.

"I'm in a mood to run." Sam answered. "Think I'll let the cat out to play. Lots of room here to go full out and burn off some energy. You go on to the bar. Have fun. Be careful and don't bring back something that looks like the cat dragged it in."

"Ha, ha, very funny." Dean responded. "You go play and don't worry about me. I'm a big boy now. "

He watched Sam change, stripping naked and then elongating into the sinuous, furred body of the cat. Sam's ears slid back and got pointed. His whiskers grew and fangs rested on his lower lip. With his long legs, flickering tail and gracefully curving neck he was a beautiful animal; beautiful and frightening. The final touch was ruffling his wings, shaking them out as if he was settling the feathers before resting them on his back.

Dean had the urge to touch him. "Christ," he thought. "I want to pet my brother."

The impulse to run his hands along the supple neck was close to overwhelming. They only had the bedside light on to provide a cover of darkness. In the shadows Sam moved about silently. When the door opened Dean only saw the shadow of the cat pass away.

The prairie wind blew into the room, moving the door but there was no sound from Sam's departure.

Dean went to the door. Holding on to it he looked out over the waving prairie grass, watching for a moving shadow. A flicker of movement caught his eye and he realized that he was looking too close to home. The cat was already off against the rising crags. A dark form leaped to the peak of a formation and for a moment was outlined against the moonlit sky, surrounded by the glittering stars. It raised dark wings and was gone, leaping from the top of the outcropping.

Dean closed the door. He hoped he was the only person who had seen the cat shape bounded by the softly glowing night sky.

XXXXXXX

Dean sat at the bar in the "Badlands Rest", an old bar tricked out to appeal to the tourists. Just under the skin though Dean could still feel the old life of dusty fields and dirty cowboys haunting the place. He leaned an elbow on the counter top, steading his beer bottle as he licked the moisture from the rim and eyeballed the clientele in the mirror behind the liquor shelves. There were a few discrete 'working ladies' quietly sitting at tables alone, traps for the unwary passerby.

He had an itch he would like to scratch but nothing he saw appealed to him. Evidently however, he appealed to females looking to scratch their own itch. There was a warm breath on the back of his neck and a low voice said "Howdy, stranger. Feel like buying a girl a drink?"

Looking back up into the mirror he froze. The woman trolling him with such a practiced air looked to be no older than maybe 16 or 17. Whatever, she looked like an arrest waiting to happen. Jailbait for sure, he thought.

"What are you doing in a bar?" he breathed. "Why are they even letting you in here?" He looked up at the bartender who was staring while polishing the same glass over and over. Dean felt like he was being set up, for what he didn't quite know.

Jailbait leaned on his shoulder. "Come on, honey, don't be like that." She nodded at the bartender.

"Joey there knows me. I'm older than I look."

Dean spun on his bar stool and looked over the room, hunting for the hard-eyed man he expected to be watching.

"LeeAnn Darcy," Jailbait introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you. Be here long?"

She put out a hand as if to shake and Dean instead raised his bottle to his lips and drank. Eyeing the slender brunette he thought "What the hell." He really had no reason to be outright rude.

He stood and put the bottle on the counter. "Dean Campbell." He replied and shook the proffered hand. "No, I'm not here long. Just the night."

"Me neither," said LeeAnn. "Maybe we can keep each other company. I could use a beer."

Showing that he could take a hint, Dean waved at the bartender and pointed at LeeAnn. He figured if the bartender served her it wasn't his fault if the girl was underage. He wasn't the one that was in charge of checking the bar patrons' IDs.

LeeAnn chattered on, filling the silence with inane opinions about the lives of various actors and her further opinions of the most popular TV shows currently polluting the minds of America's children. None of this meant squat to Dean. His mind was full of the remembrance of a giant cat passing through windblown grassy fields. The picture kept replaying behind his eyes. The remembered sounds of the wind drown out LeeAnn's mindless blather.

With music playing softly in the back ground Dean found he wasn't really interested in either getting drunk or making a run at LeeAnn. The closer it got to midnight the more he wondered if Sam was back from his 'run'.

Finally he decided to pack it up and he stood up ready to go back to the room. He still had not definitely figured out LeeAnn's game. She had tried a couple of times to get him to buy some shots of liquor instead of his friendly and safe bottled beer but he had turned her down each time. If she was just trying to get his pants off, that was one thing but if she was trying to get him either drunk or drugged he knew he might be in for a bit of adventure between the bar and his room.

"Its' been great, LeeAnn, but I need to get some sleep so I can get an early start tomorrow morning." He told her. "I have to get back to the motel."

"Oh, I'm staying there too." She squeaked out. "Let's walk back together." She grabbed his arm and hung on. They went out the door and he tried to see if they were being followed but he just didn't catch anyone behind them.

As they got closer to his room she started to paw at him, pushing herself against his body and suggesting that he 'invite' her in for a minute. He was an old pro at these games and was pretty sure she would somehow try to roll him if he let her in the room, although she hadn't managed to incapacitate him, so it would be a good trick on her part. He really wasn't interested in finding out her plan.

She hung on his neck and managed to get him turned around so that her back was against the building. He wasn't surprised at all when he felt a heavy hand fall on his shoulder. "That's my girl, you got there, mister!" came a drunken sounding voice from behind him.

Dean ducked and tried to get LeeAnn off his neck. He knew the next thing should be some kind of a blow so he was very surprised when it didn't happen. His surprise, however, was nothing compared to the surprise on his attacker's face. Dean finally was able to turn and see the giant cat standing behind the man, claws embedded in one of the man's arms. LeeAnn's eyes were bigger than Dean would have thought possible without the eyeballs rolling out.

Dean laughed at the man "I see you've met my pretty kitty." He then turned to LeeAnn.

"Hey, LeeAnn, you like kitty cats?" Dean continued to laugh and LeeAnn opened her mouth to scream. Her 'partner' started to swear and then Sam growled. All the noise stopped. That growl passed through everyone's bones like a noise from the underworld, exposing the would be robbers to the realities of the pit.

"Take this as a warning, LeeAnn. Get into a better line of work. This one will lead you straight to hell." Dean watch the color leave her face as Sam growled again. Her partner took to his heels and started running.

LeeAnn tore herself off the wall and took off after her partner. Dean wondered if she would take his advice.

Sam and Dean returned to their room. Once inside Sam turned back into a huge naked dude. Grabbing up his clothes he started getting dressed. "We got to get out of here, Dean."

"What kind of trouble did you get into, Sam, that we have to run? Can't we even get a little sleep in a real bed?" Dean complained.

"There's a lot out on that prairie, Dean. There's ghosts and spirits but they aren't the problem. There are also poachers out there. They are after the big horn sheep"

"What are they going to do with the sheep?" Dean asked.

They want the horns. Evidently they're worth a lot of money."

"You sure, Sam? Maybe it was just some guys looking for free meat."

"No, the guy I saw was hunting with one of those modern crossbows and using a flashlight to spot the sheep on the mountain sides. He wasn't carrying meat; he only had sawed off horns flung over his back."

"What did you do, Sam?" Den asked.

"Well, I hope they have some kind of big cat predators here because that guy won't be hunting any more. But we should maybe move on before they find the body, just to be safe."

"Oh, crap!" Dean swore as he fell on the bed.

XXXXXXX

**A/N:** Just so you don't think you are losing your mind, yes, the song at the beginning of the chapter is the song that was used in Season Seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to trigger Spike into killing humans again.

**Please leave reviews so that I know you like the direction this story is heading. Thanks**.


	6. Chapter 6 - On the Way to Sioux Falls

The Winchesters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, Not me.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 6

**On the Way to Sioux Falls**

"_Highway to Hell"_

_Living easy, living free_

_Season ticket on a one-way ride_

_Asking nothing, leave me be_

_Taking everything in my stride_

_Don't need reason, don't need rhyme_

_Ain't nothing I would rather do_

_Going down, party time_

_My friends are gonna be there too_

_I'm on the highway to hell_

_No stop signs, speed limit_

_Nobody's gonna slow me down_

_Like a wheel, gonna spin it_

_Nobody's gonna mess me round_

_Hey Satan, paid my dues_

_Playing in a rocking band_

_Hey Momma, look at me_

_I'm on my way to the promised land_

_I'm on the highway to hell_

_(Don't stop me)_

_And I'm going down, all the way down_

_I'm on the highway to hell_

Released in 1979 by AC/DC

Lyrics written by Angus Young

In the early morning light Sam and Dean pulled out of the Badlands National Park visitor's center and got back on Route 90, heading east toward Sioux Falls. Dean hoped that he had put a lid on Sam's wandering eyes with his 'no more diversions' fiat. That's what Sam had called it, a fiat.

"Hey, Sam," he asked. "What's the difference between an order and a fiat?"

Sam turned and smiled. "An order is given by someone in authority. A fiat is an arbitrary decree given by a person who has absolute authority to enforce the fiat, like a King. I'm letting you get away with it for now. Treasure it while you've got it because I'm planning on squashing you like a bug later, jerk."

"Oh, really? You and what army, bitch? I'm King in this car and don't you forget it." Dean blustered. He knew if Sam wanted to let the cat out his ass would be waving in the wind. He trusted his brother not to do him any harm but perhaps negotiations might be in order if something came up.

Silence reigned so Dean fished around for the box of tapes and came up with AC/DC. Now, with an elbow out the window, the wind moving through the car and the music pouring into the air, all was perfect in Dean's world. He glanced at Sam. As long as he had his brother safely beside him, nothing could destroy his peace. The Impala's wheels hummed on the asphalt and the distant horizon beckoned.

XXXXXX

Back in Spearfish, 125 miles behind the Winchesters, someone else was greeting the morning. FBI SSA Ray Ellis walked out of the diner after a good breakfast and stretched.

Pulling a folded map out of his jacket he spread it out on the hood of his rental. Running a finger down Route 90, he saw a straight shot into Sioux Falls. They might be in front of him but he thought they would have no idea that they were being followed. He had a chance, maybe a small chance, but still a chance, to catch up with them on the road.

Their 'most wanted' status had been re-activated and the FBI office in Rapid City was forwarding evidence to the FBI labs in Quantico for analysis. The skeletons of Addie and George Prescott had a good shot at being laid at the feet of the Winchesters. He would have to wait to see what the lab untangled from the mess of miscellaneous burned bones from the back seat of the Prescott's car.

There were a number of local reports about missing tourists but those incidents had happened before the arrival of the Winchesters on the scene. Why they would take the time and trouble to pile up those long dead bodies in the car before they torched it was just another Winchester mystery. Ray thought he'd ask them about it when he caught them.

XXXXXXX

Just under three hours later the Winchesters crossed the Missouri River at Chamberlain and were looking at about another three hours to Bobby's old house on the edge of Sioux Falls.

Sam had remained quiet and Dean had noticed that after leaving the South Western corner of the state, South Dakota was running a little thin on roadside entertainment. Even Sam was having trouble drumming up any enthusiasm. Everything was either already behind them, too far off Route 90 or closed for the summer. Dean wondered sometimes what kept people awake in some of these places.

Sam was restlessly moving and stretching. Dean knew that after a while Sam's long legs would start giving him hell. "Do you want to stop for a while, Sam?"

"Maybe it would be good to stop for lunch and stretch." he replied. "Might help wake me up. At this rate I'll be up all night."

They pulled off 90 and wandered down a small side road until they hit what was basically a wide spot in the road masquerading as 'The Village of Petah', according to a carefully lettered sign on a pole. The village consisted of a rural looking post office, a general store with honest to God barrels out front and 'May's Diner' along with a scattering of weather beaten houses.

May's looked like it might possibly be the social hub of Petah as it had three cars, a hay truck and a pick-up with attached horse trailer lined up in the dirt parking lot. Den pulled the Impala as far away from the miscellaneous collection of vehicles as he could get.

They got out of the car, Sam shaking his legs out as he exited. Dean looked around. Not a thing was moving and the only noise was the crickets counting out the temperature. The air was still and he felt the silence stretch out over the fields. Then he detected the lightest touch of music, coming from the diner perhaps.

Taking it as a good sign, the brothers moved toward the door. Once it was opened they were hit with a wave of cooled air and the sounds of talking and music. Thinking 'this is more like it' they walked to an open table and sat down.

The place went dead silent as the customers and the wait staff all took in the strangers in their midst. Feeling like the floor show, Dean snapped the menu off the table and looked around for someone to take their orders. Every face he looked at turned away and found something interesting to look at in the opposite direction. Conversations resumed, the waitresses moved and the cook put a plate up and rang the bell.

Sam seemed oblivious and distracted and when the waitress came over Dean touched his hand. "Sam, you know what you want to eat?"

"Dean, we need to get it to go." Sam replied.

"What? I thought you wanted to move around for a while. What's up?"

"Just get it to go, Dean. Trust me." Sam put a hand on Dean's wrist. Sam looked at the waitress. "Cheese burger and fries, to go, for both of us, please."

Now Dean was completely freaked out. "Get the food and meet me outside," Sam stood up and walked out.

Dean pulled open the driver's door and handed the food bags to Sam, balancing their drinks one handed. "The last thing I expected when we stopped for lunch was to end up eating it in the parking lot. He huffed. "What the hell got up your ass?"

"Three of those guys are planning to burn someone's house down tonight." Sam replied. "I could hear them talking about it, 'teach them not to come in to our territory' but you butted in just when I was going to get some names. Now I know what they intend to do but not when or where. I heard them arguing about whether or not they were going to let the kids out of the house. One of them said it was just kids and the other one said 'they just grow up and make more of them"

"That's just great. Welcome to the back woods of the good old US of A." Dean shoved a hand in the food bag. "Doesn't sound like gays. That leaves us with blacks, browns and yellows. Hell, it could be Democrats. What are we going to do about it now?"

"Not all the people who live out in the country are vicious mongrels." Sam replied. "The only thing I can think of is you go in and snag yourself a waitress. Find out what she knows. I'll wait out here and if they come out before you come back I'll just follow them."

"Do you mean in the car or are you going to follow them as the cat?" Dean asked.

"Probably the cat." Sam replied

"I've been meaning to talk to you about this. Look, Sam, you have got to stop dropping bodies. We are going to end up in a world of hurt if you keep it up.

"Hey, Walt and Roy deserved what they got." Sam growled. "And that hunter was a pure asshole. People worked for decades to restore those sheep to a strong breeding population and that pig was killing them for the horns. Just for money. I have no sympathy for him."

"Well, have a little sympathy for your brother then. " Dean growled back. "I'm pretty sure Walt and Roy got us put back on the 'Most Wanted' runway again. Those were real, live FBI Agents we left standing in that parking lot with their dicks in their hands."

"Humph," Sam snorted. "One of them was a lady."

"You know what I mean. Don't be a little shit. I'm also pretty sure they'll stick us with that married couple, the timing is so good. And now there is a body laying out in a field somewhere that looks like a cats' chew toy. You see what I mean?" Dean finished.

"I get it." Sam sighed. "So what do I do if I have to stop them by myself?"

"Scare 'em . Make them pee their pants, maybe their guns 'll get wet." Dean ran his hands through his hair. "Hell, I don't know. Just take your cell phone with you. Put it in that pouch thingie."

"Wonderful," Sam closed his eyes. "A Sphinx with a cell phone. I'll have to transform to use it. So then I'll be a naked man on a cell phone."

"Dammit, Sam, figure it out. Put a pair of boxers in the pouch with the cell phone! Do I have figure out everything? Wait, don't you have me on speed dial?"

"You know, you're right. I can dial that with a claw."

"See," Dean went on. "Crisis averted. No naked guy on a cell phone. Look, I got to go catch me a waitress. Try to wait for me or at least call and let me know where to meet you."

Dean got out of the car and went back in to the diner. Sitting at the counter he turned the glow up to 'stun' and waited for his prey. He turned it back down a notch when the cook started eyeing him from behind the order counter.

"What can I do for you?" Dean looked up at the same thin, blonde waitress that had come to his table. Looking around he saw there were actually three waitresses and one was a twin to the one in front of him. The other, an older dark haired woman was looking at him like he was desert.

"I forgot the coffees. Could I get two large, black coffees to go?" He looked up at her eyes and she froze just like a deer in the proverbial headlights.

"Sure, anything you want. I mean, I'll just go get those for you."

Before she scurried away he put a hand on her arm. "I'm just going to step outside and have a smoke. Could you bring them out there?"

She nodded her head yes "I'll be right out." Dean put a couple of dollars in her hand and went back out on the front porch.

XXXXXXX

Dean got everything the woman knew. He now had the names of the attackers; the Howard brothers, and he know they were going after the Garcia family, Mom, Dad and three little girls. When he got to the car, however, Sam was gone.

He knew where he was going anyway so he didn't call Sam. The last thing the Sphinx needed was the Indian Jones theme song blasting out of his pouch. Just a little surprise that Dean had set up for his brother.

As he drove up the dirt road that led to the Garcia house he was treated to the sight of a Howard brother running down the road as if his ass was on fire and there was water over the hill. "Looks like Sam is here already." Dean thought.

When he pulled up in front of the house he saw the Garcias all safely inside peering out their front window at the giant cat in their front yard. The Sphinx had the other two Howard brothers treed up a pine. Dean assumed they had sprinted up the trunk as there were no branches closer than ten feet to the ground.

When he realized just what the Sphinx was doing he was sprinting on his own.

"No, no, no,..we talked about this!" Dean took the gas can away from the Sphinx. It growled at him. You promised you wouldn't drop any more bodies."

He heard a swiftly indrawn breath come from up the tree.

He looked up at two traumatized white supremacists. "Hi, guys. You the Howards?" he asked.

"Yes, and what the hell is that thing?" was the response. Dean noticed that the gasoline was splashed not only on the trunk of the tree but it seemed to be soaked into the legs of the men's pants.

"This is just my cat. He likes white meat; I never knew he liked it bar-b-queued. "Dean walked all the way around the tree. "How does it feel to be prey?"

"Hey, call it off, man. You're a white guy. Help a brother out." The men in the tree thought this was going to get them some sympathy.

"I'm a guy who's friends with a giant cat. You guys aren't in my league. You can't join my club." Dean responded with a sneer.

"Now, why are you bothering my friends, the Garcias?" Dean asked.

There was a complete silence from the tree.

"Sorry. We didn't know they were friends of yours," was the slow response.

"You guys are aware that you're assholes, right?" Dean went on. "I would let the cat have you but we're trying to cut back on his body count."

"I know that born stupid generally means you're going to stay stupid but how about this? You are going to become best friends with the Garcias. You are going to help Mr. and Mrs. Garcia become valued members of your community. Not only that, you're going to ask them to teach you Spanish."

"If you don't, if I hear one bad thing about you or if anything happens to the Garcias, whether it's your fault or not, the cat comes back. If we have to come back, I'll let him have you."

"OK, deal." said one of the men.

"I need to hear from both of you." Dean answered.

"OK , me too," said the other one.


	7. Chapter 7 - Sioux Falls, Bobby's Yard

Sam and Dean Winchester belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me, This story is for entertainment only, not for money.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 7

**Sioux Falls, Bobby's Yard**

_All thirty-two species of cats… resemble each other because, so far, they have had no reason to change. Good hunters since the lynx-like Urcat of the Miocene from whom the modern cats descended, the cats have had no need to adjust their bodies or their diets in response to major changes in the world's climate. Why not? Because, unlike the diets of other animals, the diet of cats didn't change. The vegetarian menu listed everything from bananas to pecans, from seaweed to eucalyptus leaves, items so different from one another that completely different organisms were required to find, chew and digest them, but the cat menu lists only one item: meat. From a cat's point of view, the difference between a bird who eats cherries, a fish who eats algae, and a giraffe who eats acacia thorns is mainly one of quantity. All three are meat, and a cat can benefit from any one of them if he can catch it. So, while the glaciers came and went, while the vegetarians struggled against all odds trying to digest new plants and adept themselves to overwhelming global changes, the cats simply kept on hunting, waiting to pounce on whoever managed to survive into the next epoch. The limber cat body that hunted successfully in the Pliocene hunts just as successfully today._

From The Tribe of Tiger, published in 1994

By Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

The Sphinx was not too enamored of Dean's "deal" with the Howard brothers. He circled his tree, round and round. Throwing his head up to try and catch the smell of his treed prey over the gasoline fumes he sent his brother short low pitched growls.

Dean knew an unhappy cat when he saw one. "No, you agreed. No more bodies."

Flicking his tale sharply, a sign of displeasure among cats, the Sphinx looked pointedly down the road,

"Let it be! Damn it, no. You promised. "Dean repeated, trying to break through the animal to his brother underneath. " I'm going in the house to talk to the Garcia family. You watch these guys and do not, I mean it; do not go after that other guy."

Dean hopped up the stairs and knocked on the Garcias' front door. Mr. Garcia opened the door and stood on the other side of the screen with his wife and little girls hiding behind him. "Could I speak to you, please?" Dean asked and Mr. Garcia came out on the porch.

The screen door stayed partially open and Dean could see the curious little girls peering out, looking at him but craning their necks trying to look at Sam. He knelt down and started cranking up his glow, trying to get everyone calm.

"Mr. Garcia, I'm Dean" he stuck his hand out to shake.

Mr. Garcia took Dean's hand. "My name is Hector," he said. "I want to thank you and, um, him," Hector nodded at Sam, "for helping us with these men. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come."

"This is my wife, Marilia and my daughters, Grace, Olivia and Marta." Hector waved at his family and they all came out on the porch with Dean. Dean figured he had just the right amount of glow going as everyone seemed much calmer now.

Dean noticed that the littlest girl's hands and knees were scraped and bleeding a little. "What happened there?" he asked.

"The bad men yelled at me and I fell down and hurt myself."

"Well, let's just get that fixed up right now." Dean put his hands on her knees and then took her hands. The skin healed right up and she smiled and her eyes got big. "Doesn't hurt now." she said.

One of the other little girls looked up at Dean. "Can we pet the kitty cat?" Dean snorted and looked up at Hector. "What do you think of that?"

Hector smiled back at him. "If you think it is safe I trust what you say."

"Sam, hey Sam!" Sam looked up at Dean's call. "Leave those men alone and come over here and sit on the steps. The little girls want to pet the Kitty cat."

Sam looked at his brother. "You're kidding,"

"No, I'm not. Get over here."

Dragging his feet and with a couple of sharp glances at the treed Howard brothers, Sam trailed over to the porch steps and sat down. He immediately had little girls petting his head, touching his ears and running their hands down the curve of his neck. The littlest one tried to climb onto his lap but he wasn't going to allow that, he was naked. Cat or no cat he didn't want her sitting there.

Sam looked at Dean "Do you want me to purr too?"

"Whatever floats your boat, little brother." Dean replied.

Dean and Hector moved down the porch a bit, leaving Sam to entertain the girls with their mother standing watch behind him. She reached out and tentatively ran a finger down the back of his neck,

XXXXXXX

A few minutes later Dean came down the steps and patted Sam on the shoulder. "I'm going to get the car. Wait here with your fan club."

Dean went over to the Howard's pine tree. "You guys can come down now. I'm driving you back down the road."

The Howards dropped down out of the tree; all the while keeping their eyes pinned on Sam.

"Come on. Let's get in the car." They trouped over to the Impala and got in. By this time the gasoline had evaporated and their pants weren't exactly wet any longer but they sure smelled. Dean figured they were still highly flammable. He drove to the foot of the steps and waved Sam into the car. The Howards crushed themselves into the corner behind Dean, as far as they could get from Sam without actually falling out of the door.

"Look, you pigs," Dean started. "You are going to leave those people alone. You're going to see that you brother gets the idea too. "

Looking down the road Dean could see the Howard's car. The third brother's head was sticking up over the back of the seat, watching them approach.

"They all have my number and we're going to have people watching you. Any sign of trouble and the collar comes off my pretty kitty. This time he can have you. I'm sure you all know how cats like to play with their food. Think about it."

XXXXXXX

They dropped the Howards at their car and watched them drive off down the dirt road. Not even the clouds of dust raised by the car could obscure the fact that there was a heated, hand waving discussion going on.

Dean turned to Sam and watched his brother morph into his human form and try to shimmy into a pair of jeans from his duffle. "OK, back to Route 90." Dean said. "I swear, it has never taken us this long to go 300 freaking miles."

About 50 miles down 90 they passed through the little town of Mitchell. As they drove through on Main Street Dean spotted something he didn't believe. Determined not to stop, he turned to Sam, "What the hell was that?"

Sam laughed. "That was the world famous Corn Palace." It's an arena and multi-purpose Moorish Revival building decorated with "crop art". In this case the "crop art" is corn, corn cobs and other grains. Like Pasadena in California has the Rose Parade with floats decorated in flowers, in South Dakota they have the Corn Palace, which is decorated in murals made from grains. Instead of a parade, in September every year they have the Corn Palace Polka Festival.

"You just can't make this stuff up." Dean said. "Why does it have those green Russian onion-domes and Moorish minarets?"

"I think the short answer here is, why not?' Sam replied. "It started out looking like a castle and over the years it's been rebuilt several times. The last time they went with the Moorish Revival look and there you go. The corn murals are designed new every year and it costs the city about a hundred thousand dollars to put them up, but they pull in about half a million tourists a year because of it so it's well worth the investment."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Dean asked.

"A flyer in the diner in Petah." Sam smiled. "I was ready for it."

"And the smart ass leaks all over the car again," Dean replied.

"You know you love me." Sam smirked.

"Shut up, bitch." Dean replied and hit gas pedal. "Hey, do me a favor. Keeps an eye out for someone following us? I have that itchy feeling in the back of my head."

More of the boring South Dakota passed under the wheels but Dean was aware now. He was just waiting for the crazy to pop up.

XXXXXXX

It was just a little over an hour later that they parked under the Singer Salvage arch. The old metal arch was just about all that was left of their long time refuge. Dean got out of the car and walked on to the property. Bobby's piles and neat rows of busted cars were now just monuments of rust; beginning to fade into the pale brown dust of dry Dakota brush.

He wandered up to the house. It was a blacken pile of charred timbers. Strangely the stairs up to the front porch were still there and the screen door remained, flapping back and forth in the wind. It led into a destroyed home full of memories, all gone now. The doorway opened to nothing left. Dean stood at the bottom of the stairs and remembered Bobby in his trucker's cap; holding the door open and saying "Well, come on you idjits."

Sam came up behind his brother and put his arms around him. "It's OK to grieve, Dean. He was a big part of our lives and helped make us who we are. You can let go. No one will know but me."

They stood together in the driveway, watching as the sun went down and darkness hid the disaster around them.

There was a flash of car headlights and they turned to see a police cruiser pulling up the old driveway. It parked and Sheriff Jody Mills got out of the car. Still slim and pleasant looking, she gave them her tight lipped smile and nodded. "Sam, Dean, good to see you boys again."

She walked up and stood next to them. Dean pushed back on Sam, disengaging his brother's arms and trying to look like she hadn't just caught them hugging and grieving.

"Did you guys know that he left the land to you?" she asked.

Dean was shocked. "What? No, we didn't know." Sam just shook his head at her, slacked jawed in surprise.

Jody went on, "Yep, and for my sins he made me executor. He left an account with enough money for me to pay his debts and keep paying the property taxes and insurance. I figured you guys would show up sooner or later. Had no idea how to reach you."

"How did you know we were here, Jody?" Sam asked.

"Old man Huntsinger down the road keeps an eye on the property for me." She replied. "He called as soon as he saw the car pull up. Noisy old man but he has his uses. You should stop and introduce yourselves. He's better than an alarm service. " She turned and looked down at her pants pocket. Fishing around in it she came up with a business card.

"Another thing you don't know, you've been followed clear across the state by this guy." Jody handed them Ray Ellis' business card. "FBI guy came by a couple of hours ago asking if I had any idea where you guys would go to ground around here. You lost him when you took the off ramp for here."

"I'm sorry, Jody. We didn't mean to make trouble for you." Dean said.

"Don't worry about it. As a matter of fact, I'm real glad you showed up. Once I clean the FBI out of my office I need you fine, upstanding Minnehaha County property tax payers to come in and sign some papers for me. We should get this property cleaned up before it's declared a public nuisance and the county does it for you. I got guys ready to bid on the metals and those metals are rusting away day by day. You need to think about what you want to do with the land; sell it, develop it, donate it , whatever."

"Maybe we can build some kind of memorial to Bobby," Dean suggested.

Sam snickered. "What? The Bobby Singer Memorial Children's Park? Hey, how about the Robert Singer Memorial Paintball Field? Shooting range?"

Dean smacked his brother. "Shut up, smartass. We could think of something."

"Here, here's my private cell phone," Jody wrote on the back of her business card. "Call me or give me your number and I'll call you. Just don't leave town before we settle this."

She turned to leave. "Oh, wait a minute," She turned back. "I think we've got a problem that's up your alley. Used to be I'd call Bobby for help but now all I have is you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Jody," Dean replied. "What's the problem?"

"There is something going on around Falls Park and the burial mounds on the bluff above the river. " she replied.

"That's the park with the five waterfalls in the middle of town, right?" Sam asked. "I didn't know about the burial mounds."

"There's something you don't know?" Dean snarked at his brother. "How did you let that one slip by you?"

"Just ignore my idiot brother, Jody," Sam said. "If he drools on the furniture just kick him."

Jody laughed. "I have night joggers reporting misty figures that appear and disappear around the Falls. People picnicking on the bluffs have found their stuff thrown over the edge with no one around. Nothing real serious and I would like it to stay that way. Can you look into it for me?"

XXXXX

**A/N: We'll have our ghost hunt in the next chapter. In the meantime, leave a review if you want me to go on with this story.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Waterfalls and Ghosts

The Winchesters, Bobby Singer and Jody Mills all belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. This story is for entertainment only, not money.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 8

**The Waterfalls and Ghosts of Sioux Falls**

_Master of puppets, pulling your strings_

_Twisting your mind, smashing your dreams_

_Blinded by me, you can't see a thing_

_Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream_

_Master, master, master_

_Master, master_

_Where's those dreams that I've been after?_

_Master, master_

_Promised only lies_

_Laughter, laughter _

_All I hear or see is laughter_

Lyrics from The Master of Puppets by Metallica

Released July 1986

Lyrics by James Hetfield

After Jody drove away Dean spent a little time wandering around the property trying to imagine what he and Sam might want to do with it. The property was pretty extensive and here and there he found little remembrances of their prior life. There was a storage shed still standing. Dean jiggered the lock off and found himself looking at piles of sealed boxes.

He closed it up again figuring he'd come back with Sam for that one.

There was a small semi dry stream on the east side of the land where he found a tree and a fallen trunk that he used to come to as a child when he wanted to be alone and think. So many memories came up and hit him in the face that he felt again as if his heart was breaking. For the first time since Bobby died, Dean sat and cried for him.

Snapping out of it he got up and went back to find Sam asleep on the hood of the Impala.

"Sam, wakey, wakey," he grabbed and shook Sam's foot. "Let's find a motel and some dinner. I'm ready to shut this long assed day down."

Sam stretched and slid off the hood. "Sounds good to me. Where?"

"Jody wants us to take a look at the five waterfalls park so why don't we see what we can find in downtown Sioux Falls?" Dean suggested.

XXXXXXX

At six the next morning, Sam and Dean left the Park Motel and decided to walk around the park while they looked for breakfast. Falls Park was right in the center of Sioux Falls on the Big Sioux River. A beautiful spot, the five stepped waterfalls had been a gathering place for centuries.

The Dakota Indians had regarded it as a sacred, peaceful center and had had built burial mounds on the bluffs overlooking the river. Now it brought a sense of peace to the center of a metropolitan area built by European settlers. Dean wondered what Jody was going to tell them. Somehow this spot had evidently become haunted.

The history of the city revolved around these falls. Created during the last Ice Age by the retreating glaciers, numerous Native American tribes had inhabited the area in turn. Today many Lakota, Dakota, Nakota and other Indigenous Americans still lived in Sioux Falls.

They found a diner and had pancakes for breakfast, Dean, of course, had chocolate chips in his. As they set there with their coffees, Dean's phone went off and Jody Mills said she'd come to them at the diner. The FBI guy wasn't around, she had sent him out of town on a wild goose chase, but no need to take chances, she told him.

In a few minutes Jody pulled up. "That was quick," Sam said,

"It's not like there's a lot of traffic in Sioux Falls," Dean said. "There's only about 160 thousand people here; about 250 thousand in the Greater Met area. Even so it's about twenty eight percent of the entire population of the state."

"Why do you know that stuff? " Sam asked, curious as to why his brother would bother.

"It's all about driving. Got to know the game." Dean replied. "Hi, Jody. Over here."

"Hi guys," Sheriff Mills responded. "Hi Clarisse,' she waved at the waitress.

Clarisse came over to the table. "What do you want, Jody?' she asked with her little order pad ready.

"Just a coffee for right now, would be good but, in a few minutes I'm going to need you to notarize some signatures. These boys have to sign some papers for me."

"I'll get the coffee now," Clarisse responded. "Call me when you're ready to sign."

"That's convenient," Sam Said.

"Yah," Jody added. "Clarisse owns the place. Anything to make a buck."

"Here," she went on, "I've got a power of attorney form and a new bank signature card that Evan let me walk out of the bank with and a couple of other things I need you to look over.

After clearing up the paperwork that Jody brought with her and confirming that Bobby's legacy account had enough money in It to take care of business they told her that they had decided to turn the property into a paintball field.

Sam had looked into it and there was no game field anywhere close to Sioux Falls. Dean already had a manager in mind and said if the guy accepted their offer he would get in touch with Jody. Then they asked about Jody's ghost problem.

"There seem to be these vaporous figures hanging around the falls, usually at night, and other figures up on the bluffs in the day time, screwing around with people. " She went on. "You'll just have to figure it out on your own. The one thing I do know is that it's not the lady on the bicycle."

"What lady on a bicycle?" laughed Dean.

"She's getting to be pretty well known," Jody answered. "She must be a ghost. She always looks the same, white cycling gear on a white bicycle. She appears in the mornings normally and no one has been able to catch up with her, even professional bike riders. She always stays just ahead as she rides the 16 mile bike path that parallels the river. Generally disappears under the railway bridge. I've done the research on her myself and I can't find any record of a woman's death associated with either the bike path or the railroad, so who knows why she rides."

XXXXXXX

Later that night Sam and Dean stood on the bluff above Falls Park, watching the cascades sparkle in the moonlight. It was soothing to watch the water rushing down and the sound of the falls reverberated through the air. They had considered carefully the information that Sam had research on the internet and believed that the burial mounds might be the source of the current problems.

As they stood watch there did appears to be fleeting forms passing over and around the falls. They were so wispy that the forms were more a disturbance in the atmosphere than fully formed apparitions. Then they were attracted to the appearance of a seated man right on the edge of the bluff. He was sitting cross-legged and watching the scene below.

They wandered over. Sam squatted down and tried to get the spirit's attention. It was an old man but surprisingly, not a Native. Sam could hear faintly an angry mutter.

"Don't belong here. Never belonged here. Want to go. Want to go back. Don't belong here."

Sam whispered, blending into the spirit's monologue, "Why stay? Go home. Why can't you leave?"

He seemed to attract some attention as the spirit turned and looked at him. An old man, with a deeply lined face and dark sunken eyes, he seemed to know Sam was there. "Fools below. Won't go. Don't belong."

"We need to go down to the falls, Dean." Sam said, standing up. "This one can't help us. It's the ones below that are the anchor. They are holding him here and it's making him angry. He may be the one throwing stuff off the bluffs but it's only because he is angry at the others."

Sam and Dean made their way down the steep bluff path and in a little while were standing on the edge of the Falls Park paved path.

Dean watched as Sam just stood on the path and closed his eyes. Sam put out a hand as if he was trying to touch someone's hand and then just froze that way. When he began to sway Dean went over and held on to him then led him to a park bench and forced him to sit. All the time Sam held out his hand. Dean saw nothing. They sat and waited.

Dean noticed that the sky was starting to lighten with the false dawn. They had been there for hours. As if Dean's thoughts influenced him, San's hand fell to his lap and opened loosely but he still did not open his eyes. The silence went on and just as Dean was about to shake his brother two things happened. The misty flitting forms that had circled all night appeared to gather around them and a lady all dressed in white riding a bicycle rode past and up the path.

Dean's head turned to follow the lady on the bike and when he looked back again Sam's eyes were open.

"Fort Sod" Sam said very clearly.

"Ok, Sam. Sounds good. Fort Sod. Now what do you mean?" Dean tried to focus his brother in the here and now. He had no idea where Sam had wandered in the night as he sat and waited.

Sam sighed deeply. "Fort Sod. They built a fort to protect themselves from the Indians but they were supposed to leave. They were all supposed to leave and go to Yangton but some stayed. Fools. Fort Sod fell and the camp was burned, along with them. The fools didn't go."

"Alright, Sam," Dean responded. "When was this? Who's the old guy on the bluff? "

Sam finally appeared to snap completely into the present. "The Dakota War of 1862. He was supposed to guide them to Yangton were the soldiers were. Where they would be safe but they wouldn't go. He waited for them and died with them."

"Come on, Sam. Let's get back to the motel for a couple of hours of rest. My butt's asleep from this freaking bench." Dean tugged at Sam's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"Do you remember what was going on in the rest of the country in 1862?" Sam went on. "The Civil War was happening. Nobody cared that they were missing. No one looked for them. They don't even have graves. They rotted where they fell."

"Nice, Sam. You always come back with the nastiest bits of history." He finally got Brother Moose moving and they walked back to the motel.

XXXXXXX

The next morning Dean let Sam sleep in while he went outside and made some phone calls. He then walked to Clarisse's diner and got them coffee and pastries. When he got back it was already 10 AM and Sam was in the shower.

Dean banged on the bathroom door. "Hurry up, bitch. We're supposed to meet Jody in her office at 11."

Sam yelled back some obscene sounding noises and Dean smiled. "Back at 'cha, brother."

They drove to the Sheriff's office, but hesitated to outright park in the lot. Even Dean wasn't cocky enough to park a recognizable car like the Impala in the Sheriff's lot. Parking down the street and around the corner in front of a really nice house, they walked back to the office. Strolling casually up to the desk Sargent, Sam told him they were Sam and Dean Dieffenbachia and they had an appointment with the sheriff.

Dean kicked him in the ankle and the Sargent looked at him like he had grown an extra head. Whipping out a note pad the man pushed it across the desk. "Just write that down for me, buddy, and I'll take it right in to her."

When the Sargent left Dean whispered really loudly "What the hell, Sam. What was that word?"

"Dieffenbachia? It's a plant genus that I'm thinking of growing in the Impala. The genus contains the plant dumb cane and if I fed you a leaf you would lose your voice for a day."

Dean smacked Sam in the back of his head. Sam snorted. "Didn't know you could reach that high, short stuff."

Jody came out of the back. "Alright you two knock it off and come on."

They followed her back. "Who came up with the cute name?" she asked.

"It wasn't me." Dean answered.

Once they were seated Dean waved a hand. "Go on , Sam. Tell the lady about her haunting."

Just then Dean's phone went off and he glanced at it. "I've got to take this. It's the guy about the paintball field."

Sam started. "Well, Jody, it wasn't exactly what we thought it was but they should all be gone now. Just some lost spirits. I don't know what stirred them up unless you know about a place called Fort Sod. That's where they came from. We saw your lady on the bike too. At least, Dan saw her"

Jody nodded her head. "That makes sense, Sam. There was a big kerfuffle about the Fort Sod site in the council chambers a couple of months ago. Starbucks wants to put a coffee shop there. The council said OK, as long as they put up a plaque on the outside of the building. A lot of people are upset about it; historic value and all that."

"The ghosts don't think much of it either but they should be taken care of. Let me know if they come back."

"I don't know if we're going to have to worry about it. " Dean came back from his phone call. "Jody, that was a guy called Chuck Elbert. He's a one legged, retired hunter who lives in Valentine, Nebraska right now. He's real interested in setting up and running the Robert Singer Memorial Paintball Field for us."

"He's a good guy who did us a big favor last month and he used to run a bar so he has some business experience. I guess retirement has turned out to be really boring and he's set up and raring to go on the field. I told him to see you when he gets here. Is that alright with you?" Dean ran out of breath and smiled at her.

"Good deal," said Jody. "It'll be nice to have a home town hunter around again for those annoying little supernatural problems that crop up from time to time."

She stood and shook their hands. "Other than thanks, I don't have much I can give you guys. I will tell you that I sent that FBI guy off to Sica Hollow State Park which is back up route 90 a ways. He's under the impression, for some reason, that you guys are hunting a ghost there."

"Ok, Jody, we'll skip the Park turn off and keep going. We're going back up the Canada for a few weeks."

"Oh, I just remembered." she said hurriedly. "I got an enquiry out of West Lafayette, Indiana where they have the Hunter's Moon festival every year, some guy wanted to know if I'd seen you and if you were going to the Festival this year." She fished around in her desk drawer for a second.

"Here it is, Ed Gainer; he said he was an old friend of your father's"

Sam and Dean exchanged glances.

"He's an idiot and not a very good hunter either. Word is that he stays alive by sacrificing his partners. Don't know why he'd want to see us, we'd sooner shot him than shake his hand." Dean paused and thought for a second about the news.

"Thanks for the warning. We planned on going to the festival this year just to touch base with some of Dad's old associates but don't let anyone know. Half of them want to shoot Sam and, more importantly, me, on sight right now."


	9. Chapter 9 - Going to Visit the Family

All Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. This story is for entertainment only, not money.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 9

**Going to Visit the Family**

_She walks in beauty like the night_

_Of cloudless climes and starry skies._

_And all that's best of dark and bright_

_Meet in her aspect and her eyes:_

_Thus mellowed to that tender light_

_Which heaven to gaudy day denies._

_One shade the more, one ray the less,_

_Had half impaired the nameless grace_

_Which waves in every raven tress,_

_Or softly lightens o'er her face:_

_Where thoughts serenely sweet express_

_How pure, how dear their dwelling place._

_And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,_

_So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,_

_The smiles that win, the tints that glow,_

_But tell of days in goodness spent,_

_A mind at peace with all below,_

_A heart whose love is innocent!_

"She Walks in Beauty"

Published in 1815 in the volume "Hebrew Melodies"

By Lord George Gordon Noel Byron

"Sam!" Dean pushed at his brothers' arm. "I swear, lately all I do is wake you up. "

Sam rolled over and turned his back on his brother, pulling up his comforter over his head. "Go away, Dean. Go find breakfast, or coffee or somebody else to bother. I'm sleeping."

"Come on, Sasquatch. Don't you want to go check in on the little woman?"

"Shut up, Dean. Ayamis is no one's 'little woman'. If I tell her you said that you'll never get a moments' peace in camp." Sam rolled again and kicked out a long leg at his brother. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight. Haul your big ass out of that bed. You can sleep in the car later on our way North." Dean grabbed at the leg Sam had kicked out at him and pulled. Sam started to slide and grabbed at the headboard.

"You pull me off this bed and I'll kick your ass, jerk." Sam tried to push Dean off with the other foot. Now he was thoroughly awake and getting pissed.

"You and what Valkyrie army, bitch?" Dean continued to pull until he got a foot in the gut that sat him down on his butt on the floor.

Now Sam was up and, wrapping himself in his sheet like a toga, stomped off to the bathroom.

Dean was on the floor trying to catch his breath. Between the foot in his stomach and his laughter at Sam's bitch face, he was running out of oxygen.

"Call Chuck Elbert." Dean yelled through the bathroom door. "He called this morning. He's already on the road here, I'd like to point out; unlike some lazy little brothers I know."

"What's he want?" Sam shouted back. Dean was pretty sure they had this whole end of the motel awake by now; they had made enough noise to do it.

"I'll tell you when you get out. I'm tired of yelling . I'll go get us some coffee and maybe doughnuts or something."

XXXXXXX

Dean came swinging back into the room, balancing a drinks tray on his fore arm, just like a diner waitress, with a promising looking white paper bag clutched in his hand

"Well, look at you," Sam laughed from the bed. "You expecting a tip?"

"Good to see you upright, princess." Dean shot back. "Use my phone to call Chuck back and get his number into your phone. I think we're going to hearing from him a lot."

"He's really into the paintball thing, reeling off all kinds of ideas and he's also jazzed about being Jody's go to guy on the Supernatural stuff. I guess retirement was boring the shit out of him. He wants to know how you got rid of the Fort Sod ghosts so he knows what to do if it comes up again."

Sam got his coffee and a couple of doughnuts then sat cross-legged on the bed and called Chuck.

"Hi, Chuck. It's Sam." He spoke into the phone. "About where are you? Really, that far already? You must have started really early. Hold on a minute."

"Dean, he's already about half way here. He's just coming up on the Missouri River crossing at Chamberlain. He'll be here in a couple of hours. Do you want to wait for him?"

Dean shrugged. "It might be a good idea if we're there so we can introduce him to Jody and answer any questions that come up. We still got to go eat breakfast or maybe lunch anyway. Let's call Jody and see if we can all meet somewhere."

"Ok. Hey Chuck." Sam got back on the phone. "We're going to wait for you to get here and then maybe you, we and Jody can all go out somewhere to eat lunch and make plans. What'd think? Ok, meet you at Jody's office then. Just call when you get into town."

XXXXXXX

A few hours later the four of them were comfortably seated in a private room at the Dragon Inn in downtown Sioux Falls. A well-known 'police' hang out; the Inn catered to the Rangers and National Guards men and the Sioux Falls officials. Jody got them a private room because she suspected the conversation was likely to get a little strange and she didn't need any eavesdroppers.

First they went through the Paintball field responsibilities that Chuck would be taking off Jody's shoulders. Chuck had some really good ideas including hauling his mobile home up from Valentine.

Dean brought up the storage shed out on the property. "If you can, try to see what those boxes are about. Once we know what's in them we'll know what to do with them."

"Is that mobile home going to be warm enough, Chuck?" Jody asked. "It gets pretty bad here in the winter."

"It'll be good, don't worry." Chuck laughed. It's handled the Valentine winters just fine. It's all insulated and set up for snow. I just have to get all the hook-ups set. If I can get someone to clear the ruble of Bobby's house off, I bet I can put it right on part of that foundation."

Hearing Bobby's house described as 'rubble' hit Dean right under his rib cage. Sam put a hand on his brother's shoulder and squeezed.

"I'm sure that'll be fine, Chuck," Sam agreed. "Is there enough money to get him set up and keep him going until the field opens, Jody?'

Jody stirred her coke with the straw. "I am sure there's enough. If he brings his own house that will cut down on the costs considerably. Looks like a good deal."

Chuck turned at look Sam in the eye. "If that's settled, I'm sure Jody and I can work out any other details and we can always call you guys if we hit a snag. I'm more concerned about these spirits you are calling the Fort Sod ghosts. How did you take care of them and what do I do if they regroup?"

"Chuck, you were at Elroys. You know that Dean and I can pull some stuff that maybe other Hunters feel we shouldn't be able to." Sam started off slowly.

"You mean the definitely supernatural skills you guys have picked up somewhere, right?" Chuck responded and then stuffed part of his Ruben sandwich in his mouth.

"Right. One that isn't all that visible is my ability to commune with the non-human." Sam poked his fork through his Caesar salad. "By non-human I also mean spirits, ghosts, the dead."

"Uh-huh," Chuck picked up his pickle and crunched it. "If I was bothered by this stuff from you guys I wouldn't be here."

"Fine," Sam went on. "I sat that night out on a park bench with Dean and walked with those spirits. I learned their names, their dreams and how they died. . The park ghosts were wispy, indecisive spirits, a couple of them close to fading on their own. The true spirit, the lynch pin, was the old man on the bluff. He was the one I had to convince."

"When I told him that he could go, that the men in the park weren't his problem anymore, he started to loosen his grip on them. I had to promise him I would make sure they left Sioux Falls, or The Village of Sioux, as he called it. It took hours and the old bastard argued with me the whole time. If he'd been alive I would've killed him."

"If the park ghosts come back, a common every-day psychic can take care of them. If the old man comes back, that is a whole different problem and I believe you'll need me to come back." Sam stopped and ate some of his salad. "No one would be more surprised than me if he comes back. I sent him off to look for his son in Minnesota."

"Huh," Dean snorted. "You sent him on a wild ghost chase, Sammy?"

Sam wigged an eyebrow. "Shut up and stuff your face, Dean. It was the best I could do."

"There are no bodies, Chuck." Sam went on. "These men were not buried. They died in the winter, under the snow. What rot didn't hide, wild animals took care of. Nothing left to burn. Sorry, that's the best I can offer you."

"Well, we'll just have to hope it doesn't come up. I'm pretty sure Jody and I can handle things between us. Right, Jody?" Chuck smiled at the dark haired Sheriff.

Jody smiled back and Dean got the feeling that she was pretty pleased with their choice of Hunter replacement for Sioux Falls.

XXXXXXX

Sam and Dean got up from the table, pulling on their jackets and getting ready to leave Sioux Falls, on their way to Canada.

Jody put a hand on Dean's arm. "Just one more little item, guys." Her eyes included Sam. "What do I tell this FBI agent when he comes back from Sica? I think he'll suspect I sent him on the wild ghost chase we were talking about."

"I've been thinking about that, Jody," Dean answered. "We don't want to cause you any more trouble than we already have so I think instead of skipping Sica Hollow we might just make a stop there and flash the guy. I'd rather he just kept chasing us than coming back here to bother you. Let us take care of it and call if you need anything."

Settled into the Impala, they pulled out of Sioux Falls back on to Route 90 again.

"Hey, Sam," Dean said. "Why don't you look up this Sica Hollow State Park and see what we're getting into. I don't know why Jody would send the FBI guy to it unless it had a reputation for being haunted or something."

Sam pulled the laptop out of his messenger bag and propped his knees against the dash board. As Dean drove he could still hear the clicking of the keys, even with the wind moving through the car.

Hearing a 'huh' out of Sam, Deans' ears perked up.

"Find something?" he asked.

"Found a lot," Sam replied. "Pull over for a minute. I want to jot some notes down."

They stopped beside the road under a big pine. Dean twisted in his seat and looked at his brother. "What ya' got, Sam?"

"Sica Hollow State Park is located in the North Eastern part of the State, quite a few miles off Route 90. It has always been regard as haunted. Even the Dakota Sioux regarded the place as evil going back generations. It used to be Sioux traditional hunting grounds and one particular ravine, call Sica Hollow, is supposed to be the location of a creation and vengeance story where various Native American mythical figures fought."

"The word 'Sica' means evil. The Indians tell tales of various mysterious happenings there and the local Dakota believed the evil is the reason that water in the springs in Sica Hollow is stained red. More likely the color is due to minerals in the water but the legends remain. You can walk the Trail of Spirits, where supernatural forces are supposedly still at work.

When the white settlers came to the land they absorbed the Indian legends and made them their own. There was a guy back in the 1840's by the name of Robert Roi who actually chose to live in Sica Hollow. Not only the Indians but also the white settlers regarded him as insane. He lived deep in a ravine and his home was almost impossible to find. "

"More and more settlers came to live in the area and the mythical stories about Sica Hollow grew. They came to believe that some sort of beast or "Big Foot" inhabited the dense woods. This fear boiled over in the 1970's when people began disappearing into the woods."

"People who joined in the hunt for the missing persons admitted that they were also looking for some kind of a beast in the woods, a bear maybe. But nothing and no one was ever found." Sam paused in his recitation.

"Fun place, Sam," Dean responded. "Remind me about all this stuff the next time I claim some State is boring."

Sam continued, "Just to make the place really fun some parts of the park near Sica Hollow contain a form of quicksand due to numerous springs. There are also huge stretches of densely forested gullies that hide ravines that drop several hundred feet straight down. The Park Service strongly recommends that visitors stay on the marked trails."

"People who have stayed in the park overnight have reported ghostly chanting, and voices, sounds of cries and war whoops and even a few sightings of ghostly Indian braves."

"Jody sent that FBI guy here? What was she trying to do, kill him? I didn't know she could be so mean." Dean interjected. "What's the turn off for Nature's own version of Hell House?"

"Take Highway 10 to Sisseton, and follow the signs."

XXXXXXX

FBI SSA Ray Ellis was lost, dirty, tired, hungry and thoroughly pissed at Sheriff Jody Mills. He had left a designated trail yesterday evening, believing that he had heard voices calling to each other that might have been the Winchesters. After wandering around in the dark and finally collapsing under a tree for a few hours of uncomfortable sleep he realized that there was little to no chance of finding the Winchesters here.

Being a city boy he really had no concept of how large and confusing and flat out unfriendly natural landscapes could be. Now all he wanted was to find a trail and get out of these woods. He wanted to find his car, drive back to Sioux Falls and burn Sheriff Mills at the stake as a witch.

While visualizing just how beautiful it would be to see her go up in flames he heard a cat-like growl. Knowing what he knew he pulled his gun. If Sam Winchester was in these woods Ellis also knew he might not get out of the woods alive. He stood and peered over the edge of the hillside, down into a gully.

He saw a flash of movement and thought he could see a russet colored cat shape weaving in and out of the tree trunks. He popped off a shot and saw the cat flinch as the bullet tore through a tree limb above its' head. Now there was more than a growl, there was a cat scream echoing through the hillsides.

Ellis turned and ran. To his shock he ran directly into the arms of Dean Winchester, who knocked his gun to the ground and then punched him in the face.

Ellis drifted back to consciousness and found he was braced up against a tree trunk with his hands tied behind his back. Dean stood to his left with a hand on the same tree and lying in front of him, completely at ease, was the Sphinx in all its' wild glory. Long, relaxed and stretched out to its' full length, it was an amazing looking animal. When it lifted its' head and looked at him it was so frightening that he felt his body temperature drop. He began to shake.

"You been looking for us, Agent?" Dean asked. "I guess you found us. Now what?"

"it's my job to bring you in. Ellis replied bravely.

"Not in the best position for that, are you? Just out of curiosity, what would you charge the cat with?

Ellis looked at what he assumed was Sam Winchester. "That is a dangerous animal that has killed two men that I know about, maybe three. It needs to be put down."

"Alright," Dean said as he pulled Ellis to his feet. "You've gone way past brave into purely stupid now. Have you no sense of self-preservation?"

Dean tied another rope around Ellis' waist and started leading him along like it was a leash. The cat stood and followed. Ray looked back just in time to see it spread and shake out its' wings. The wings made it look even bigger.

He stumbled and really wished it wasn't behind him. As he fell forward without his hands to brace himself he felt something grab at the back of his jacket. He realized that the sphinx had his jacket and his pants waistband in its jaws and was more or less carrying him along.

He tried to get his feet under him and get away.

"Calm down, agent," Dean said. "He won't eat you but you might piss him off. My Sammy's got a hair trigger when he's the Sphinx. Just stay calm. He'll let go when he feels like it."

"Where are we going?" Ray asked.

"We're going to take you back to your car. It won't take you anywhere because we sort of made off with some real important parts but you can at least sit in it and wait for help. When we're far enough away we'll call your location in to the park rangers."

"Isn't the car in the parking lot?" Ray asked.

"Not any more. We moved it." Dean said. "I recommend that you just go home to Omaha. Where we're going you won't find us. Take a break."

Just then something moved in the brush and the cat took off after it. Ray watched as the cat put down all fours and took off running like a cheetah he had seen on a National Geographic special once. The tail was acting as a rudder and all four feet came together then stretched and left the ground. The wings were extended but held flat over its' back. It was stunning, beautiful and incredibly frightening all at once.

"Yo, Sam, get back here!" Dean yelled.

Ray wondered just how much control Dean had over his brother.

XXXXXXX

After a few days travel and having made it across the border without trouble, Dean pulled into the hidden garage in the Canadian Mountain camp. Digger was in the garage under the hood of a pickup truck. He stood and watched the boys get out of the Impala and stretch out travel cramped muscles.

"Well, the wandering boys come home." He wiped his greasy hands on a shop rag and reached out to shake their hands. "How you guys been?"

"Taking Sam's hand he said "Hey, Sam throw any hairballs lately?"

Sam took a swipe at him. "Jackass."

"You guys better get along. Your women are waiting. Sam, Ayamis took off her classes today just to see you early so be nice." Digger waved them off and stuck his head back under the hood.

Dean walked over to the Medical cabin while Sam peeled off to hunt for Ayamis. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, Dean watched the door open and Wapun walked out on the porch. He wondered how he could possibly forget how beautiful she was.

Every time he saw her something else struck him. Today is was her long dark hair., Smooth and shiny it made him want to run his fingers through it.

She looked down at him and smiled. Holding out her hand she said, "You going to stand there all day and stare? I've got plans for you." 


	10. Chapter 10 - The water is Wide

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Warning – sex scenes follow. This chapter is all sex. You have been warned**. If this is going to bother you, **stop reading**. Otherwise, you're on your own.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 10

**The Water is Wide**

_The water is wide, I can't cross o'er_

_Nor do I have light wings to fly_

_Build me a boat that can carry two_

_And both shall row…my love and I._

oOo

_A ship there is and she sails the sea_

_She's loaded deep as deep can be_

_But not so deep as the love I'm in_

_And I know not how I sink or swim_

oOo

_I put my hand into a bush_

_The sweetest flower there to find_

_I pricked my finger to the bone_

_And left the sweetest flower alone._

oOo

_Oh love is handsome and love is fine_

_It's like a gem when first it's new._

_But love grows old and waxes cold_

_And fades away like the morning dew._

oOo

English Folk Song

Based on lyrics dating back to the 1600's

Last line from Chapter 9: Wapun says to Dean "You going to stand there all day and stare? I have plans for you."

He took the hand she was holding out and followed up the stairs and into the cabin. She walked behind him and made as if to help him remove his leather jacket. He turned his head and breathed in her light fragrance, reminiscent of flowers and smoke. She stood on her toes and stretched to reach his lips.

As the jacket slipped off his shoulders and fell to the floor he turned and held her by the upper arms. Again he looked at her and wondered how he could forget how beautiful she was. When they first met he had been distracted by the aggressive beauty of her sister, Sokanon, but the longer he knew them the more Wapun's beauty grew.

Her dark eyes, heavy sable hair and thick lashes recalled Byron's poetry to him, "she walks in beauty, like the night", a tribute to the graceful blending of shadow and light.

A light kiss and she took his hand, leading him again through the cabin to the back where she opened a door to revel a bedroom, decorated in soft winter whites and greys with light touches of color supplied by meadow flowers in blue and green glass vases scattered about. Those flowers and vases supplied the only touches of color. Even the curtains, moving lightly in the breeze from an open window, were white. She advanced to the bed and folded down the blankets.

She smiled. "I'll be back in a few minutes, I want to get changed. Why don't you get into bed? I would think you are tired out from the long drive. Try to stay awake; I would like to talk to you."

She left through a side door that he assumed led to a bathroom. When the door closed he started to strip, folding his clothes over the back of a chair. Once naked he slipped into the bed. His clothes and boots looked out of place; colors wrong, clothes strongly masculine and jarring in this lady's bower.

His eyes closed. The room was silent. The breeze from the window lightly tickled his skin and brought with it the smell of pine forest and icy mountain passes. Here was peace. He had an overwhelming urge to sleep and he drifted with the breeze.

XXXXXXX

He awoke hours later to the feeling of delicate fingers playing over his genitals. His dreams had given him an erection, he thought. Then he felt Wapun's head on his breast, her hair in his face and he wondered if his condition was just a consequence of dreams or if she had helped him along. He laughed softly and ran his hand through her hair.

"Something you wanted to say to me?" he asked. "Or have you found all you want? "

Glancing out the window he realized that dusk had fallen. It was just before sunset and he had slept the afternoon away. "Do you know where Sam is?'

She tightened her grip on his dick and rose up on her other elbow. "Right now, the last thing you should be thinking of is your brother. Tell me, are you still clean or do we need a condom?"

"I'm as clean as a new-born babe. Haven't touched anybody but you since the waterfall." He replied.

Sliding her hand up and down she swept her thumb over his slit, gathering his fluid to slick her path. Every time she did it he felt an electric shock of sensation race though his balls and ass.

"Sam is doing just fine," she whispered between butterfly kisses. "Ayamis is taking good care of him. You just pay attention to me." She swiftly nudged the covers down further, kissed his dick and swiped it with her tongue. He nearly shot up into the air in reaction.

"Holy Christ, woman!" he exclaimed.

She laughed. "Liked that, did you?" She did it again, sucking this time and he moaned and shivered. She took his free hand and tucked it in the warmth between her legs, rocking back and forth and pleasuring herself.

She was amazingly wet. He rubbed his hand between her labia then brought his fingers to his nose. While he was distracted by her smell and taste she lifted up and mounted him. Her weight on his hips and his dick getting buried in her body almost forced him to climax.

She lay down on his chest and searched out his nipples with her tongue. He grabbed her wrists and moaned, speeding up his hips. When he came time stopped, sound stopped and he saw star like flashes of light behind his eyelids. He may have screamed but lost in that timeless moment he couldn't hear.

When breath and sound returned he felt his heart beating against her body. She rolled off and once again propped her head on her hand. Her free hand traced patterns in the sweat on his belly.

"We had an ultra-sound marathon yesterday. You're going to have a son the end of March, maybe the beginning of April."

He rolled his head and looked her in the eyes. "A son? Really? "

"Why would I lie to you? Yes, a son. You better start thinking of names before Digger beats you to it. He's thrilled to be an Uncle-by-adoption."

"I'll tell him to back off. We're the only ones that get to name him. What do you mean a marathon?"

"We did Ayamis too." She said, looking down and smiled.

"Well, what is she going to have? Or is it too early for her?" he asked.

"With Ayamis it turned out to not be a question of what she was having but of how many she was having. It's not too early for her. She's got a due date in April too."

"How many? What does that mean?" he rose up in the bed and encircled his knees with his arms.

"Sokanon believes she saw three."

He started to laugh. "Three? Three babies! That's not a birth, that's a litter."

"I know. That's what we all said. Poor Ayamis. She's lucky she's got her mother and sisters to help. So, how does it feel? Not only are you going to become a father you're going to become an Uncle too, all in the same month."

XXXXXXX

Earlier that afternoon Sam had tracked Ayamis down at her parent's house. His wife was smaller than even he remembered and the easiest way to kiss her hello was to pick her up in his arms and cradle her against his chest. She laughed and her parents smiled, proud that their daughter had attracted the love of such a man.

Not only did they approve of his size and intelligence but they also knew he was Shaman material. Marriage to such a man raised Ayamis' prestige in the tribe. With her own mental gifts they were an outstanding couple, already regarded as of great value.

"I have news for you, Sam." Ayamis said. "Sokanon did an ultrasound yesterday and not only am I pregnant and doing well, so are all of your children."

Sam stopped. "All of my children? What do you mean, all of my children?"

The whole family laughed. Ayamis' father spoke up. "Good job, Sam. Sokanon says triplets."

Sam sat down in the nearest chair, still holding his wife. "Triplets? How…triplets?"

"I'm pretty sure you know how." Ayamis' mother joined in.

Ayamis climbed off his lap, amused by the stunned look on his face.

"Come on, Sam. I have a picnic lunch all packed up. Come with me to the river and I'll explain it all to you over again." She was still laughing.

Sam grabbed the basket off the table and loaded Ayamis on his back, piggy back style. When she objected he told her that she had enough to carry and as long as he was home he was going to take care of her.

They walked on for half a mile, beside the glacier fed stream that created the purification ceremony waterfall. Finding a nice grassy spot in the fall sunlight they spread the blanket. They were far enough away from the camp that no one could hear them.

Sam stripped off immediately and watched as Ayamis did the same. Carefully he lay her down and began to lick and worship each and every inch of golden flesh. Soon she was whimpering and shivering under him. She dragged her finger nails over his chest, leaving little red lines in his skin. Sensation coursed through his body and he almost lost control. He wanted to mount her so badly but, concerned about her condition he decided to lift her into his lap

With her knees braced on either side of his slim hips he carefully entered and she rocked back and forth, in sync with his movements. They came together; nothing else existed outside the circle of their arms. He held on tight and kissed her delicately.

"Sam," Ayamis whispered. "I wanted to know, have there ever been multiple births in your family?"

"Not that I know about." He answered.

She shook her head. "The tribal records go back for generations. There is no record of any in my family either."

She looked him in the face. "What do you remember from our honeymoon? Besides the obvious, of course. Do you remember the night you became the Sphinx in our bed?"

"I did?" he gasped. "No, I don't remember that. That would have been dangerous. I should never have let that happen."

"Calm down. You didn't hurt me. As a matter of fact, it was kind of exciting. I enjoyed it. I love you and the Sphinx is just another side of you." She smiled and stroked the side of his face.

"I was just wondering if the triplets might not be a kind of a litter."

Sam stood up and paced, running his hands through his hair. "I don't know what to think about that. I don't think…" he stopped and threw his head up. There were voices coming towards them. She watched as he morphed into the Sphinx, ready to defend her against all comers.

He turned his lithe neck and spread his wings to make himself look larger. She was entranced. She though he was the most beautiful and, at the same time, the most masculine creature she had ever seen. He just flat out turned her on. She was ready to climb into that furry lap without a second thought.

Dean and Wapun emerged from the trees. Coming upon his brother and Ayamis unexpectedly and nude, Dean immediately trigger his "glow" to try and calm every one down. He and Wapun had only half-heartedly been looking for the other couple. But the biggest surprise was yet to come. Dean's glow didn't exactly calm the Sphinx down.

The Sphinx jumped on Dean and knocked him to the ground but it become very apparent he wasn't trying to hurt Dean. He licked Dean's face continuously as he was ripping his clothes apart. Wapun went over to sit with Ayamis.

"Well, that's kind of a surprise." Wapun said. "Kind of hot too." She looked at the picnic basket. "You got anything left to drink in there?" Ayamis handed her a can of soda and both women leaned back on the blanket getting comfortable and enjoying the floor show.

Sam had Dean pretty much stripped at this point, Tatters of fabric were all over the grass. Dean was trying to fight his brother off but wasn't making much headway.

"Wapun! Help me." He yelled. "Get him off me."

He pushed up at his brother's chest. "Sam, damn it, stop it."

Wapun got up and wandered over to the men. "You know, Dean. I don't think there's much I can do to stop this. You remember that old, annoying thing men in the fifty's used to say, "If rape is inevitable, lay back and enjoy it." She raised her soda can in a kind of cheer. "Here, let me get your boots for you."

"I don't believe this." Dean yelled. "Sam , stop it." No one was paying attention to him.

Finally Dean decided to follow Wapun's advice and relaxed. He did think that the fur was sensual and he had a little experience in sex with men from his teenage adventures. Sex with his brother as a huge cat had never entered his head however. How could it?

The Sphinx could feel that his partner was accepting him and he flipped Dean on his stomach and fastened his fangs lightly in the back of Dean's neck. He then kneaded his paws without claws on his brother's shoulder blades and mounted him like a Tom would mount a Queen.

Wapun and Ayamis were taking it all in and getting interested.

Wapun turned to Ayamis. "You know, this might be the answer to a potential problem. I don't want Dean out on the road picking up who knows what kind of women. I don't think you want Sam to do it either. This way we could at least keep it all in the family. What do you think?"

Ayamis was drinking some bottled water. She looked at Wapun. "Let's talk it over with them when we go back to camp. By the way, you shouldn't be drinking that soda any more. It's full of sugar and salt."


	11. Chapter 11 - Over the Hills and Far Away

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**A/N**: A lot of the first few pages of this Chapter refer back to the ending of "Sons of the Morning" for various characters and locations

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 11

**Over the Hills and Far Away**

_Were I laid on Greenland's coast_

_And in my arms embraced my lass_

_Warm amid eternal frost_

_Too soon the half year's night would pass._

_ooOoo_

_And I would love you all the day_

_Every night would kiss and play_

_If with me you'd fondly stray_

_Over the hills and far away_

_ooOoo_

_Were I sold on Indian soil_

_Soon as the burning day was closed_

_I could mock the sultry toil_

_When on my charmer's breast reposed._

_ooOoo_

_And I would love you all the day_

_Every night would kiss and play_

_If with me you'd fondly stray_

_Over the hills and far away_

Traditional English song from the late 17th century

Recorded also by Led Zeppelin on their 1973 album, Houses of the Holy

Fall laid its finger on the Boreal forest. Barely the middle of September and the deciduous trees lining the riverbed, sugar maples and beech, aspens and birch, showed off their blazing fall colors. In the Mountain Camp activity was at a high pitch.

Those that were staying for the bitter winter were laying in supplies and those that would leave for the flat lands, predominately the college students, were packing up. Everyone had a job; everyone was looking to prepare for the winter.

Sam and Dean were sitting together on the Medical cabin's front porch where Dean's adoptive 'older brother', Digger, found them.

"You guys better be ready to get out of here before the snow flies. That back road is a real bear when it freezes over." he said.

"I know, Digger," Dean answered, "We're getting ready to go. Are you and Wapun and Sokanon going to be OK up here?"

"We've been doing it for years." Digger replied. "We're not dead yet".

"But it can get down way below freezing up here. We're just worried about all of you." Sam interjected.

"The coldest it has ever reached here was -27F." Digger said. This camp is located on the wind protected side of the mountain. It stays below freezing from mid-October to April but it's not really that bad. But you're right; Calgary is warmer by an average of about 20 degrees."

Dean jumped in to the conversation, "We're taking Ayamis down to school and getting her set up but Wapun is staying here; can't take the Medical Tech away. Who's going to take the X-rays when you fall off that snowmobile of yours and bust a leg?" Dean glanced up at Digger, his hands busy cleaning some mysterious car part.

Digger huffed. "Don't you worry, little brother, I'll keep a close eye on the woman for you. Nothing's going to happen on my watch."

"Ayamis is ready to go. " Sam said. "She's looking forward to getting back down to the University for winter classes. We'll help her settle in at U of C and then we're going to do a little job for Garth. After that I think we'll be on our way to Indiana."

"Digger, did you ever go down to the hotel and settle scores with that snotty desk clerk? What was his name? " Dean stopped and thought for a minute. "Cubby, wasn't it Cubby?

Digger laughed. "Yeah, I got to have fun there. The tribe leases the land to them that they built their golf course on. I got your friend Cubby sent back to Hotel Management School for a refresher course in 'Guest Hospitality'. I hear from some of the maids that he took it very poorly. "

"How did you pull that off?" Dean asked.

"I told the hotel manager that Cubby had been rude to my cousins, Dean and Sam Campbell. If you guys go back they'll give you a free room if you mention my name, Dalton Webb."

"Your name is Dalton Webb? I thought it was Digger." Dean snickered.

"Be nice, little brother, or I'll kick your ass." Digger replied. "Yes, my non-Nations name is Dalton Webb. Respect it."

XXXXXXX

The next morning was spent lugging Ayamis' luggage and boxes down to the garage and stuffing it all in the back seat of the Impala. They didn't leave camp until late morning and decided to go on and tease the Banff Hotel's pet desk clerk by stopping there for lunch.

"I want to check on the bride and Diana," Sam said. "Just want to make sure they are still under control and haven't bullied some poor sucker into being King of the Wood."

Ayamis had heard the details about the bride that Sam had constrained by placing her under a spell and she was curious to see an example of her husband's 'work'. She also wanted to see the inside of the Banff Springs Hotel.

They parked in front of the impressive Scottish Baronial manor and trooped through the lobby.

"Hi ya, Cubby," Dean exclaimed and waved at the tall, thin man dressed in somber colors, a striped necktie the only bright spot. It looked to Dean like the man shuddered as he caught sight of their party.

"Mr. Campbell, Mr. Campbell and Madame, welcome to the hotel." He hissed out through gritted teeth. With a massive effort Cubby forced out a ghastly smile. "Will you be staying with us again today?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Cubby, but we're only here for lunch." Sam responded while Dean stood grinning like a crocodile looking over the water hole menu.

They passed through to the dining room and Sam immediately went to one of the large multi-paned windows overlooking the pine forest. He waved Dean over.

"Try to get them to seat us here", he whispered to Dean. "I'm going out on the veranda and down those steps to check on the Diana spirit."

Dean shook his head. "Should you go alone? She's dangerous."

"If you watch me from the window you should be able to tell if I'm in trouble. But If I get in trouble I don't know exactly what you would do about it. She's a spirit, you can't shoot her."

"I can sure as hell insult her." Dean replied. "I'll be there, Sam, if you need me."

Dean watched Sam go. The hostess came up and he pulled out a chair for Ayamis, who promptly got with the program and sat down.

"If you don't mind, we'd like to sit here. Mrs. Campbell is pregnant and she's really tired." Dean smiled his very best smile at the young hostess. "We wouldn't want her to move for no good reason, would we?" The hostess handed him the menus and left.

Dean sat and kept his eyes on Sam, leaving the ordering up to Ayamis, telling her to just not make it too healthy for him. He watch as his brother came to the edge of the trees and braced one hand on a trunk. Sam lowered his head and become motionless.

"Get me rabbit food and prune juice and you'll crash my system. I'll go into burger withdrawal and have convulsions. You don't want that to happen, do you?" Dean wiggled his eyebrows at Ayamis, who responded by slapping him on the shoulder.

XXXXXXX

Sam stood under the edge of the pines and listened for the rustle of Diana's footsteps. He heard only the chatter of squirrels and the occasional shuffling of a browsing herbivore, a hare or lemming. The heavy steps of the caribou, grazing on conifer needles, were easy to pick out. Beneath his feet he could feel the slow tunneling of the voles.

But nowhere could he find a trace of Diana. He most likely needed to go deeper into the wood but that would make his brother go off like he had a rocket up his ass. Sam grinned at the thought of Dean throwing himself off the veranda to chase after his little brother.

He lifted his head and listened again to the world. The wind heaved the pine branches and high above he could hear the calls of the birds. Nowhere could he hear or feel the rushing of Diana's hunt, the cry of her hounds or the thrum of her arrows. Perhaps the loss of the bride as her in-house pimp had caused her to move hunting grounds.

No warrior charged from the forest to challenge him for the invasion of Diana's sacred grove so, if she had found some fool to become her new King of the Wood, she had taken him with her.

They would have to find out where she had gone. He hoped it was nowhere near the Mountain Camp. Another smile crossed his face. If she tried to take Digger on she would find that she met her match. He turned and trudged back to the steps and up to the Dining Room. He could see Ayamis through the window, waving at him.

Once seated at the table, with his lunch in front of him he gave the news to Dean. "I can't find her. She's not near the hotel where I found her before and I don't want to go hunting for her deeper in the woods without back up."

"That's too bad," Dean responded. "But we're going to have to put off hunting her. She could be anywhere out there." He put his half eaten 'Scots' burger down." I did two things while you were out playing in the woods."

"Oh, really?" Sam pointed his fork at Dean's plate. "Why is that called a Scots burger?" Ayamis had clued Sam in.

"I don't know," Dean replied. "It looks and tastes like a bacon burger. Maybe there are a lot of pigs in Scotland. Maybe it's the only way they could get twelve dollars for a cheeseburger. Who knows what evil lurks here, other than us?" He took another healthy bite. "Tastes good."

"Alright, piggy, what did you learn?" Sam laughed.

Dean nodded at Ayamis. "Ask her. She actually got the first bit" He went back to his burger.

Ayamis took a bite of her salmon then put down her fork and smiled at her husband. "I asked the waitress about the bride and if we might be able to see her if we stayed. She told me that the bride was still around but they had noticed that she wasn't coming around so often any more. She also said that the ghost seemed calmer and quieter than usual so I guess your spell worked."

"Good," Sam said. "If she's calmer and I can't find any trace of Diana then this place might be safer now. Dean, we should warn Digger that the Diana spirit is most likely prowling the hills and he should keep a look out for odd stories or men disappearing into the woods.""

"What's your story, Dean?"

"I called Garth about this Calgary hunt he wants us to do. It's called the Deane House and it's part of the Fort Calgary preserved historic site. How 'bout you research that, Sam, and we'll talk about it in the car."

Sam snorted then gave his brother a military salute "Yes, sir, jerk sir, yes. Right away sir. I'll get right on it,sir."

"Shut up bitch." Dean replied.

Ayamis rolled her eyes. "You two just don't stop, do you? Eat your lunch."

XXXXXXX

They drove the 80 miles to Calgary after lunch and delivered Ayamis to her dorm. As a married woman and a First Nations native she had certain privileges at the University like her own private room in the dorm. She could have elected to live off campus but the dorm connected to the underground tunnels that networked the University buildings together. She could get around the campus in winter and never be exposed to the snow and the cold.

During the drive Sam had held forth on his research of the Deane House.

"Interesting building," he started. It was a mansion built in 1906 inside the perimeter of the old Fort Calgary. Fort Calgary was the local base for the North-West Mounted Police who were charged with keeping order in the region among the whiskey traders and outlaws. The fort's superintendent, Captain Richard Deane, built the mansion for what was, at the time, the jaw-dropping amount of $6,900.00 dollars as a home for his wife, Martha. Unfortunately she never got to see the house as she died of a sudden illness while traveling to meet her husband.

The fort was closed in 1914 and Captain Deane retired and moved back to England. The fort was sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway which promptly tore down all the Fort Calgary buildings with the exception of The Deane House, which they kept to house officials. They did, however, move the house to the diagonal corner of the block to clear way for a project. This was the first time the Deane house was moved.

In 1929 the house was sold again to a local entrepreneur who moved the building again. This time it was moved to the other side of the Elbow River and became a boarding house. It was floated on the river using boats and giant flotation devices to move it to its current location. II was a remarkable feat and it made a 1930 issue of _Popular Mechanics_ magazine. Many speculated that C.I. Jacques could have saved money by simply building a new house."

"Sam, this is nice, but could we move on to the ghosts, please?" Dean whined, sucking on his empty straw and making a drain-clearing noise.

Ayamis took away the empty soda cup Dean was sucking on and gave him a can of soda. "Don't play with it. Drink it" she ordered him.

Sam huffed, "Alright I'm getting to the ghosts but you need to know all this stuff first."

"Fine, continue." Dean waved a hand at his brother.

Sam went on, "After it was moved the house went steadily downhill. It became a seedy boarding house and had such a bad reputation that the Military declared it off limits to personal during the Second World War. It was the kind of boarding house that rented rooms by the hour."

"I know those kinds of houses," Dean exclaimed.

"I know you do, Dean. Please shut up."

"During the boarding house years there were murders and suicides. A man was shot to death on the front steps. No one was ever arrested. An enraged husband stabbed his wife to death in front of their children and then killed himself with the same knife. In 1933 a father and his epileptic son were boarders. The 14 year old boy was bullied by the other children and he committed suicide in the attic.

Ten years later Jacques sold the house to Alex Brotherton, who continued to operate the house as a boarding house. He would sit for hours, smoking his pipe in the window of the front parlor. Brotherton's daughter died in the house in 1965, Brotherton himself died in the house in 1968. There were many unconfirmed rumors of other deaths and murders in the house. "

"Almost too many possibilities." Dean said.

""You're right. The place is wall to wall ghosts and all of Calgary knows it. The city took over the abandoned house in 1973 and restored it as a part of a historical preservation project. It was in the 60's and 70's that its reputation began to grow. Currently there are historical tours where they have had to add spiels about the ghosts to cut down on the questions, mostly from the kids and there is a restaurant on the first floor."

"Good job, Sam. Now can we get to the ghosts? I know that the City Council is worried about liability. Garth told me that we were going to get paid by the city for cleaning the place up. Our friendly ghosts have evidently crossed the line from tourist attraction to actual scary phantoms."

Sam started up again. "Alright, here's the most current list: we have the elderly Native in the basement who supposedly tells people they are trespassing on sacred land. I don't believe that one for a second. If he's guarding a sacred spot why does he keep moving with the house? This house gets around, remember. There is the old style telephone with no guts or electricity that rings every now and then in the bar."

"Evidently Alex Brotherton is still sitting in his chair in the window smoking his pipe. Only some supposedly 'sensitive' people claim to have seen him but almost everyone has smelled the pipe smoke. We have the body on the outside steps that appears and disappears, usually when restaurant guests are arriving or tying to leave. There is the sad 14 year old suicide in the attic who cries at night."

"The staff hears footsteps coming from upstairs when there is no one there. Then there is the man in the black cape that rushes down the stairs and out the front door. You wouldn't know he was a ghost until you notice that he his legs stop at his knees."

"Good grief, Sam. They have one of everything. What the hell is going on there? These are all supported sightings?"

Sam shrugged. "It's been going on for years. There are tons of police reports, journals, and personal newspaper interviews. Something is happening there and lately it's been happening a lot."

"I know where we are spending tomorrow night." Dean said.

"Can I go?" Ayamis asked.

She got "No" in stereo and settled back in her chair. "Why not?"

Dean looked at Sam. "She's your wife. Good luck."


	12. Chapter 12 - The Deane House Hunt

Sam and Dean Winchester and any other random Supernatural characters, belong to Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me. I won't damage them and I'll put them back when I'm done.

**A/N:** There will be certain passages in this chapter where Latin and then a Latin translation will be spoken. In those passages assume that Sam is speaking the Latin and Dean is speaking the English.

**Hunters Moon**

Chapter 12

**Deane House Hunt**

_IN ILLO tempore: Dixit Jesus discipulis suis: Euntes in mundum universum, predicate Evangelium omni _

**(At that time Jesus said to His disciples: "Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all)**

_creatureae. Qui crediderit, et baptizatus fuerit, salvus crit: qui vergo non crediderit, condemnabitur. _

**(creation. He that believes and is baptized will be saved: he that does not believe will be)**

_Signa autem eos, qui crediderint, haec sequentur: In nomine meo daemonia ejicient: Linguis loquentur _

**(condemned. And in the way of proofs of their claims, the following will accompany those who)**

_novis: serpents tollent: et si mortiferum quid biberint, non eius nocebit: super aegros manus imponent, et _

**(believe: in my name they will ****drive out demons****: they will ****speak in new tongues****: they will take up)**

**(serpents in their hands, and if they drink something deadly, it will not hurt them: ****they will lay****)**

_bene habebunt._

**(****their hands on the sick, and these will recover****.)**

John 1:1-14

King James Version of the Bible

Sam, Dean and Ayamis sat in the Impala in front of her dorm building. Even since the stereo "No" from the brothers to Ayamis' request to go ghost hunting with them, the temperature in the car had verged on the icy. It had nothing to do with the weather. Ayamis sat with her arms crossed, stubbornly staring straight ahead.

Every attempt by Sam to start a conversation had been rebuffed and now they were all caught in the moment between movement and dispersal. Dean knew his brother would be a miserable, self-doubting idiot unless this was settled so he threw himself into the eye of the matrimonial storm.

"Look, Ayamis." he started.

She turned and looked at him and he had the urge to zip his jacket up. Damn, those children were going to get a double dose of bull headedness. He soldiered on.

"Sam is just trying to keep you and your children safe." He got a huff out of her and Sam got his hovering hand slapped away.

"You don't quite understand the danger. It is not because you are a woman. It isn't even because you aren't trained. It is because of the unborn children you carry." Dean said.

Ayamis looked a little more interested, at least. She wasn't ignoring him and raised eyebrows encouraged him to go on. He decided not to mention how the eyebrow trick was so Sam-like.

"We don't know exactly what is going on at this Deane House Haunt but we both expect it to be something nasty." Dean told her.

Ayamis finally lowered her arms and reached to take Sam's hand. "It's not because I don't believe you. It's because you both yelled at me without even giving me a chance to discuss my request. I am not someone that either of you have a right to order around."

Sam said, "I know. I shouldn't have jumped in like that but you scared me. This could be so dangerous on so many different levels for you. If you want to go on a hunt we can certainly take you on one but we want to pick that one out for you."

Dean cleared his throat, preparing to speak. "There is something you need to know. We can protect you with an amulet from possession but we can't protect the babies."

"Demons and even some ghosts would regard those babies as unprotected new life. New life is what these creatures crave. I can't imagine anything worse than being possessed in the womb. Even if we were able to purge the child of the entity after birth, the psychological damage would be extensive. I assume the child would be born insane."

Ayamis drew in a shocked breath. "Is that even possible? What an ugly, dangerous world you live in that you can even imagine these things."

Sam ran his fingers through the back of her hair. "I really hoped we could keep some of this stuff from you but, yes, in utero possession is possible. There is a lot of lore relating to the "Devil's child" legends. The Jersey Devil is only one example. Please don't ask to come, for the sake of our babies."

She pushed at Dean. "Please move and open the door. I wouldn't come with you guys now if you paid me. I complete agree about staying as far away from your 'hunt' as I can get. "

XXXXXXX

After setting up Ayamis in her room and leaving last minute instructions about salt and amulets and always keeping her cell phone charged, and so on and so on. Dean was finally able to drag Mother Hen Sam away.

It was then early evening and they decided to go over and take a look at the Deane House. Calgary was no New York City but it still took them a little time to figure out how to get to the house on the other side of the Elbow River. Once they got there Dean decided he didn't like the look of the place at all.

They parked on the street and stood leaning on the car.

"Creepy." Dean muttered. Even from across the street the two experienced hunters knew there was something wrong with that house. It stared back at them through half shaded windows like partially closed eyes.

If it hadn't been radiating evil at the Hunters it might have been a nice looking house, It consisted of two stories with a large veranda like front porch of white pillars and railings and steps wide enough for the Preservation Society to divide them down the middle and make a 'Entrance' side and an Exit' side.

The last of the Historical Park visitors were walking down the porch stairs and standing on the sidewalks. Dean just caught sight of a vaporous body sprawled on the steps. The visitors walked right through it. The body flickered at each tread and a few visitors clutched at their jackets or sweaters as if fending off a sudden chill.

"Well, that's got to go." Sam muttered to his brother.

"No shit." Dean answered. "Are you going to walk this house first?"

"No, I don't want to go in as a pure spirit without protection and The Sphinx might just possibly be more troubling than useful. There is something in there spoiling for a fight."

"Nice. We better go in loaded for bear." Dean replied.

"If we're lucky it will only be a bear." Sam muttered back. "This place has too many ghosts. Something is holding them here. Let's take hex bags in too. I want to purify each story. The Preservation Society is just going to have to put up with a few holes in the walls."

They moved to the trunk and started loading up. A duffle might become difficult to hold on to among so many spirits but they started with it just to get the shot guns across the street without the neighbors calling the cops

Hex bags went into pockets. Sam held out parchments printed with Exorcisms. Dean hung protective amulets in the shape of medieval sigils around their necks. Bags of salt went in the duffle but the drawstrings holding the bags closed could be hung from an arm or a shoulder. They had no good idea of what they were going to find so they took everything they knew to use.

They continued to watch until the tour guides came out and one of them locked the front door. It was almost fully dark now and soon that house would be all theirs. Either it would be theirs or it would take them.

XXXXXXX

Once inside, using the keys that the Society and the Restaurant owner had given them, they started their tour. Earlier that afternoon they had made a 'manifestations check list' and had laid out a plan. They were going to release the little boy in the attic first.

They had finally decided to put the porch steps figure last, on their way out, to cut down on the time that they would be exposed to the noisy neighbor types out there.

On their way up the stairs they were passed by the Black Cape ghost on his never ending rush to get out the front door. Tonight, however, it ran into a thick line of salt in its path and as it went past Sam he had thrown a hand full of salt at it. The ghost paused in its never ending hurry and flickered out of existence.

They continued on up and found the little attic door at the top of the last staircase. They entered a wide attic space, dark and hot from the day's sun and full of floating dust. Sam felt the oppression and grieved for the child, held here in torment by an unknown force. He wondered if the boy still had epileptic fits or if he had been released from that suffering by death.

They followed the weeping to the small attic window and saw him sitting on the ledge, still wearing a ghostly simulacrum of the rope he had used to hang himself. Sam knelt beside him and extended a hand.

"I don't know what the other force in this house is but I think that we are as far from it as we can get and still be in the house. This little guy has been ready to go for a long time and it is only cruelty that holds him here. That and his own belief that he learned from his Jewish father; he can't let go until he has permission." Sam lowered his hand. "I think we can give him that. Look for the line from the Jewish prayers for the dead. Look for the passage from the Yazkor"

Dean flipped through his parchments and showed Sam a page. Sam nodded and then took both Dean's hand and attempted to take the hand of the ghost. They lowered their heads and repeated three times

_Have mercy upon him; pardon all his transgressions…Shelter his soul in the shadow of your wings. Make known to him the path of life._

At each repetition, the form of the little boy shuddered and thinned. On the third his faint form faded away.

"I am going to put the cap on the bottle." Sam told Dean. "I can't feel him anywhere now but just to make sure he stays on his path and isn't recovered by the beast in this house…" Sam started again:

_God, filled with mercy, dwelling in the heavens' heights, bring proper rest beneath the wings of your Shechinah, amid the ranks of the holy and the pure; illuminating like the brilliance of the skies the soul of our beloved and our blameless who went to his eternal place of rest. May You who are the source of mercy, shelter him beneath your wings eternally, and bind the soul among the living, that he may rest in peace. And let us say, Amen._

The sense of oppression lifted in the attic. Although still dark there was a feeling of lightness all around them; a joy at release, a hope of redemption.

"One down," Dean chortled. He was so pleased that he let his glow light up a touch. Sam immediately pulled him over and held one hand behind Dean's neck. Sam rested his forehead against Deans'.

"Do us both a favor, big brother." Sam said and then leaned Dean's head back and licked a long strip up his neck. "Turn that off until we get out of here. Besides distracting me I don't want the beast in this house deciding it would like to keep you as a pet. Be more careful."

"Ok," Dean responded, shocked. He thought that it was only the Sphinx that wanted him that way but, as he just learned, it seemed to be affecting normal Sam too. "What's next on the list?"

He shuddered with the remembered caress and wanted to return the favor but Sam was being serious now. He let it go, something to look forward to after the hunt.

Sam sat down on an old trunk and pulled out his penlight. "After we place the hex bags in these corners I think we had planned the Stairway ghost next but I've been thinking. If we just keep going at this one spirit at a time I'm pretty sure we're going to find more of them. I think we should try to get at the root of the problem."

"I think it's that old fake Indian in the basement with his 'sacred ground' bull crap. A real guardian spirit would have stayed with his ground when the house was moved, not traveled along with the house. Let's go down and see if we can kick his ass out of here."

"Fine with me," Dean responded and headed out of the attic and down the staircases. They found the cellar door in the kitchen. Opening it released a smell of old mildew and ancient cardboard. There was a light switch and to their surprise, it worked.

Sam put out a hand and blocked entry. "Can you hear that muttering?"

Dean tried but nothing came to him.

Whatever was down there sent out waves of darkness. The last thing in the world they wanted to do was go down there and face this thing but this is what they did. More importantly, this is what they were.

"They started the chant and response of the beginning of their Exorcism because Sam was sure that a demon was what they were facing.

Sam_: Domine, exaudi orationem mcam_

Dean: And let my cry be heard

Sam: _Dominus vobiscum_

Dean: May he also be with you.

The chant got them to the bottom of the stair where they could finally see their target. It still appeared as a venerable Indian elder with long dark hair and a proud presence. Sam extended his hand and the creature appeared to find it interesting.

Over his shoulder he whispered to Dean. "Try to get a salt ring around it."

Sam went on with the Oremus Oratio:

_Omnipotens Domine, Verbum die Patris, Christe Jesu, Deus et Dominus universae creaturae; qui sanctis Apostolis tuis dedisti potestatem calcandi super serpentes et scorpiones: qui inter cetera…._

Dean could hear Sam chanting in the background as he completed the first of the salt circles. He had laid it down tuathal, against the spirit. Now he wanted to go back and lay another circle deiseal, favoring those outside the circle.

In Scottish Gaelic _deiseal _means "sunwise" or clockwise. Considered a "Prosperous Course" it could be used to confirm blessing by circling an area or person 3 times in a clockwise direction. The opposite course, _tuathal, ___was against the light or when you could not see your own shadow. By Scots lore walking in this direction was considered bad luck. .

They had found, through trial and error that such salt circles could function as temporary 'devil's traps'. They would not hold long, perhaps long enough to save your life. Whatever they had trapped inside was thoroughly confused by Sam's chant and Dean's actions.

It did not know which to look at first. It started to slowly spin in place, growing more and more distorted. It had dwelt here for more than a century, feeding on the unfortunate spirits it trapped in the house. Now these interlopers had cut it off from the source of its power.

Dean could hear things happening upstairs. There were cries and crashes and it felt like the whole house was shaking.

Sam's chant went on:

_." …mirabilium tuorum praecepta dignarus es dicere: Daemones effugate : cujus virtute motus tamquam fulgur de caelo satanas cecidit: tuum sanctum nomen cum timore et tremor suppliciter deprecor, …."_

Dean worked feverishly. He was chalking out devils' trap circles outside the salt lines with red chalk from his pocket. The demon, Dean had finally decided on demon, focused on him. It growled as each mark was traced out on the concrete floor of the cellar. It slowed its spinning and pointed at him. He felt as if something was crawling up his arms and resisted the urge to shake them.

Sam shouted "Dean, start your Exorcism"

Dean started:

"I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every Satanic power of the enemy, every spectre from hell, and all your fell companions; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Begone and stay far from the creatures of god for it is He who commands you…

He could hear Sam repeating the same Exorcism in Latin and their voices rose together in the dank cellar, exerting all the strength of their belief in the power of the words backed by the power of their spirits.

The demon could not stand against them and vibrated faster and faster and then exploded . A wind blew through the cellar and all the foul shreds of the creature were swept up in a whirlwind and sucked into the floor. Dean rose to his feet.

"Ready to go upstairs and check on the rest of the crew?" he asked Sam.

They walked through the house, stopping only to plant hex bags in the walls and checking on the small signs of destruction. They could not find a sign of a single ghost. No one rushed down the stairs, there were no visions of murder in the upstairs hallways, the smoke was gone from the parlor and the chair in the window no longer rocked. When freed from the demon the sprits had wasted no time getting out of the house. Dean peeked through a window and did not see a body on the steps.

"I just want to do one more thing, Dean, then we can go" , Sam said and stood in the center of the front room and recited:

A Prayer for the Forgotten Dead

O merciful god,

Take pity on those souls

Who have no particular friends and intercessors

To recommend them to Thee, who,

Either through the negligence of those who are alive,

Or through length of time are forgotten

By their friends and by all.

Spare them, O Lord,

And remember Thine own mercy,

When others forget to appeal to it,

Let not the souls which Thou hast created

Be parted from thee, their Creator.

ooOoo

May the souls of all the faithful departed,

Through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen


	13. Chapter 13 - Leaving Calgary Behind

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 13

**Leaving Calgary Behind**

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arrive_

_ooOoo_

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these sunken eyes and learn to see_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to be free_

_ooOoo_

_Blackbird fly, blackbird fly_

_Into the light of the dark black night_

_ooOoo_

_Blackbird fly, blackbird fly_

_Into the light of the dark black night_

_ooOoo_

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arrive_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arrive_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arrive_

Written by Lennon + McCartney

Recorded June 1968

After _The Prayer for the Forgotten Dead_, Sam and Dean shoved all their equipment into the duffle bag. Spiritually exhausted from the Exorcism they stumbled their way out of the house and down the steps.

Sam felt defiled by the touch of the demon and Dean was angered by not only the sorrow in his brother's eyes but also by the pain that had been inflicted on the poor, innocent child spirit in the attic.

They made it out to the Impala without incident, hurrying to get out of the evening wind. Late September in Calgary tended to be a bit nippy and they were thankful for the comfort of the car.

"What do you want to do now, Sam?" Dean asked. "Do you want to eat or go back to the motel or, how about going out for a beer?"

"You know, the Dean Winchester 'beer and a burger' special sounds pretty good about now." Sam replied. "But before we pull out let's talk for a minute." Sam looked out on the street. It was a quiet neighborhood without much traffic.

"About what?" Dean asked.

"About the elephant in the Impala." Sam answered with a little smile.

"And what would that be?"

"Come on, Dean. That was a nice show we put on for the girls beside the river, "

"That wasn't you, Sam. That was the Sphinx." Dean hunched into his jacket and stared at his hands on the steering wheel.

"And what was that in the house? I licked a stripe up your neck and you were only glowing in the mildest way. If I had manifested the full cat, you would have been on the floor with your pants around your ankles." Sam turned and stretched his arms to the roof and brought one knee up on the seat.

"We need to set up some rules and I want to know what your feelings are about this."

Dean curled his lip and looked out the driver's side window. "You know I don't talk about this kind of stuff, Sam. Just drop it."

"No, I won't," Sam replied. "This is serious. We need to know our boundaries, or at least, I do. I need to know what you are thinking. I'm not going to be able to stop the Sphinx and I don't want to wake up the next morning wondering if I had raped you the night before."

"Jesus, Sam. You do remember that I'm your brother, don't you? "

"Dean, you need to face up to the fact that neither of us is a hundred percent human any more. We have to learn to trust one another over again. You know I love you and I know you love me and always have but we are going places that are new to both of us."

"Well, how do we even start to learn to trust each other? We had a hard enough time before. Now it just seems impossible. We have no rules, no points of reference in this new world." Dean finally looked his brother in the face.

"To start, I think you should come over here and turn on the glow. I'm cold." Sam smiled.

"I'm not a freaking space heater," was Dean's reply, but he slid over and rested his back on his brother's chest.

Sam wrapped his arms around him and rested his cheek on top of Dean's head. Dean was incredibly tense. He felt he had absolutely no business in his brother's arms but he had to admit it was really comfortable.

The minutes flew by and Dean watched the stars revolve in the night sky. He could hear Sam's soft breaths and realized that his little brother had dozed off. He felt warm and safe and at peace. Gradually his eyes drifted closed too.

They were startled awake by someone rapping on the glass. Next a light was shined into Dean's just opened eyes. Sitting up quickly, Dean almost went for his gun before he realized they were being rousted by the cops.

Dean scooted over behind the wheel and rolled down the driver's window. The cop continued to shine the flashlight on him. "License and registration." The cop demanded.

Dean reached for the glove compartment for their papers.

Sam was awake now and rolled down his window. The cold invaded their previous cozy, warm cocoon. "You guys can't sleep on the street." the second cop said while shining his light in Sam's face. "You're going to have to move it along."

"Get a room." The policeman snickered at his own innuendo.

"You and your boyfriend have to get it off the streets." the other cop said to Dean.

Dean started the Impala up, deciding that maybe it wouldn't be the brightest thing to tell the cop that Sam wasn't his boyfriend, he was his brother. A piece down the street Dean asks, "You still want that beer and a burger?"

"Yeah, that still sounds like a good idea. Let's find a bar."

They pulled into The Blue Skies bar and grill. The place is packed and the only thing open are seats at the bar. The bartender, a tall, pretty brunette comes over. "What you guys want?' she asked, wiping down the bar with a rag.

"Couple of cheeseburgers and beers." Dean responds with his best lady-killer smile and turns his glow up to the lowest level.

She pauses for a moment to fully register a pair of bright green eyes and smiles back. "I'm Brenda. I'll bring the beers now and the burgers will be up in a couple of minutes." She pulls cold bottles up from under the bar and pops the tops off.

"You guys going to be around for a while?" she includes Sam in the question but never looks anywhere else than Dean's eyes. She decides she wants to find out if he has freckles elsewhere or just on his nose.

What gets her attention is a low growl from Sam and his hand on Dean's shoulder. "No," Sam replies. "Just stopping for food. "

Brenda glances at the hand then at Sam and back to Dean. "Who would have ever thought?" she mutters and moves off.

"Thanks, Sam. Very helpful" Dean complains.

"Forget it Dean. Your zipper is no longer open for business. From now on your ass is stamped Authorized Users Only." Sam snorts and spins around on his bar stool, looking over the drunken crowd.

"I don't remember signing a contract." Dean replied and shrugged off Sam's hand.

Sam's smile gets bigger and he puts the rejected hand on Dean's upper thigh. "It'll come to you, in time. Maybe we should find a tattoo parlor and see if they'll tattoo "Private Property" on your ass."

"Ha, Ha." Dean's burger appears and he settles in to eat.

After the burgers are demolished, Sam turns to Dean. "Do you want to try and hustle some pool?"

"I don't know, Sam. I think almost everyone here has noticed that we are together. Not an optimal set up for hustling." Dean scans the room and sees that the pool tables are set off in the back end of the bar. Maybe, he thinks, they can get away with it. He slides off the bar stool and leads the way to the tables. Sam trails behind and off to the right, trying to look disinterested. He finds a seat along the wall.

Dean puts his quarter in line on the table and after watching a couple of really drunk, very piss-poor games, begins to think he could most likely make some money with this crowd. He'd never hustled drunken Canadians before, but how different could they be from drunken Americans? .

It's not long before his turn comes up and he promptly loses the first game. Pretending to be drunk himself he convinces the winner to play again and double the bet. He watches greed spark in his middle-aged, pudgy opponent's eyes. He's well on his way now and goes for a third game and doubles up the bet again. Pudgy guy is drooling as he watches Dean fake sway and almost drop his cue. Now Dean is going in for the kill.

Straightening up and turning his glow up to medium to keep pudgy guy's attention on his face and not the game, Dean starts to sweep the table. He's down to the last and winning shot when he feels a hand on his ass. Looking up he can still see Sam against the wall so he knows it's not an "Authorized" hand. He swiftly takes and sinks his shot and snatches up the money off the table as pudgy guy begins to realize that something strange is going on and he's losing his sure bet.

Dean turns and the hand on his ass slides up front to his chin. He's looking at a lumberjack of a guy, who is flanked by two more guys just as big as his assailant. All beards and weathered skin, these guys look like they take their fun where they find it. He was now definitely looking for his little brother to show up and help.

"Hello, pretty boy," lumberjack #1 one rumbles. "You lookin' to hustle more than pool? Let's take that cute little ass of yours outside and have some fun." He then tries to stuff money into the waistband of Dean's jeans. Dean remembers days past when this kind of thing would mean food money or school supplies for Sammy or winter clothes, He wishes he didn't have those memories.

Dean tried to jerk away but the hands are now on his arms and it's more than one guy holding him. Then he notices that the lumberjacks are looking past him and at something over his shoulder. He knows that it's Sam by the looks on their faces.

A big arm grabs him around the waist and pulls him away from the restraining hands. "Mine"

The lumberjacks back up. Dean dearly wants to see if Sam is changing forms or not.

"If he's yours, do you want to rent him out?" one lumberjack asks.

Sam rumbles right back, "I'm his lover, not his pimp. Get away from him."

XXXXXXX

They decide that they have had enough fun for one evening and they pack it up to go back to the motel. Dean throws one last glance at Brenda but the look on her face clearly indicates that boat has definitely sailed.

On their way back to the car, the lumberjacks make another run at them but this time they have bats. Dean thinks maybe baseball bats. He wonders where those came from because these guys don't look like a team.

"Bring him over here," one calls to Sam. "We'll give him back afterwards."

That did it as far as Sam was concerned. These guys deserved to meet a nightmare they didn't even know existed. Dean stepped to the side and got out of the way. Sam looked like he was just stretching but Dean knew he was elongating. The Sphinx threw his head back and yowled. The moonlight glinted off his fangs.

From in front of him Dean heard someone say "Holy fuck, what is that?" He walked forward. "I would run if I were you," he shouted at his would-be assailants.

"Run before he comes after you."

Sam dropped to all fours but stayed with Dean until Dean was in the car with Sam's abandoned clothes. Dean loved how the Sphinx slithered out of Sam's clothes. So smooth, so sleek, the cat just shed them like a snake shed its skin.

Only then did the Sphinx start looking around for the now widely scattered men. They had wisely all headed in different directions.

Finally he picked one guy and started after him. The guy looked back and saw the big cat gaining on him and went for a tree at the end of the parking lot. Dean thought that maybe climbing a tree to get away from a cat was not the smartest move.

The Sphinx stretched up from the bottom of the tree, all seven feet of him and then extended a long front leg and snagged one of the guy's boots. The man screamed and kicked but the claws seemed caught in the laces. He pawed at his boot, trying to get it loose and finally it fell away and the man climbed higher up the tree. The Sphinx seemed proud of his trophy and carried it back to Dean.

Dean let him keep it and opened the passenger door and patted the seat. "Come on, Sam. Let's get out of here."

XXXXXXX

Sam sat on the passenger side of the car, looking out the window. Dean got a couple of giggles out of the looks they got while passing other cars. Not often people saw a huge cat riding as a passenger. They passed a couple of cars with kids in them and the kids went complete ballistic when Sam turned and stared at them. The parents had a different reaction.

When they got to their motel Dean was glad they had elected a room around the back. As long as Sam was in the mood to stay a cat there was nothing Dean could do except go along with it and shield his brother as much as he could. When they finally got inside Dean threw the duffle and clothes on the couch and fell into his bed.

Sam leaped gracefully onto Dean's bed and stood over him, licking his face.

"Damn it, Sam. I'll shower in the morning. Get In your own bed. "

The cat growled and lay down next to Dean, throwing a paw over his chest. Dean curled into the cat's soft, furry chest and once again felt safe and warn. The brothers drifted off to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14 - Love Along the Way

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 14

**Love Along the Way**

_There is another sky,_

_Ever serene and fair,_

_And there is another sunshine,_

_Though it be darkness there._

_Never mind faded forests, Austin,_

_Never mind silent fields – _

_Here is a little forest,_

_Whose leaf is always green,_

_Here is a brighter garden,_

_Where not a frost has been._

_In its unfading flowers_

_I hear the bright bee hum:_

_Prithee, my brother,_

_Into my garden come!_

There is Another Sky by Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

It was early morning and bright sun bounced cheerfully through the window, an obvious liar as the air was cold and sharp. Winter was seeping down from the northern lands and mornings gave a warning of colder days to come.

Dean rolled on to his back and stretched. He flinched as his fist touched another body and he raised his head to stare.

Who the hell did he bring home last night? And why were they still here? He never let them stay for fear of morning questions and demands. "Do you want to do it again? Do you remember my name? Do you think you love me? " All questions for which he had no answers. Fear clenched his stomach muscles. Should he run away?

Then he recognized the hair and the wide shoulders that said this was no woman. Hell, it was his brother. No questions here. The memory of the cat came back. He had curled into its breast, rubbing against the soft, warm fur.

Sam also rolled over. Now he could see his brother's face, relaxed in sleep but starting to yawn and Sam's nose began to twitch. Dean smiled, the memory of a thousand mornings watching his brother wake came back to him and stilled his fears. No need to run away.

Sam's eyes came open and focused on this brother. He yawned. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

Dean realized that, yes, he had slept well. They both had. No nightmares, no wandering in the dark, no dreams of demons or failure or fear. All there had been was deep, dark, silent sleep; the very best kind of night for them.

He smiled back at Sam "Yes, and you?" He reached over and combed Sam's long chestnut hair out of his eyes and laid his head against his brother's breast. Again he felt warm, and loved and safe. His eyelids began to close and he thought how nice it would be to sleep again.

Sam rolled even closer and slipped his arm under Dean's head looking for a more comfortable position. He used his free hand to rub Dean's back. Now they both were happy and clinging together in the early morning chill. Sam reached down and pulled the comforter up over their shoulders, a warm huddle of flesh. There was no urgent need to move so they settled peacefully together.

Later Dean woke again, and stared into his brother's face. No need to hide or flee. He was nestled in his brother's arms. This time, however, there was something else going on. They both had morning wood and Dean was shocked to find he liked the sensation of rubbing against his brother's erection. Checking to make sure Sam was still asleep Dean rubbed a little more.

Sam huffed, "Dean, what are you doing?" He didn't even open his eyes.

Dean froze and went to pull away. Sam tightened his grip. "Didn't say you could leave."

"Let me go, Sam."

Sam finally opened his eyes and smiled then rubbed against Dean's erection with his own again. "Are you sure? It's awfully cold out there. It's nice and warm under here."

"I gotta hit the bathroom. Let me go."

Dean looked into Sam's smiling face. God, his brother was almost beautiful. If Dean wanted a guy, his brother would be at the top of the list. For just a moment he wanted to run his hands all over that golden flesh. Then he shivered and pulled away. This wasn't part of the big brother handbook.

XXXXX

They pulled out of Calgary right after breakfast, running before the cold front that was moving south towards the border. Dean decided to go east through Saskatchewan, turn south at Weyburn and then dive over the border into North Dakota soon as possible. The Mid West was no place to get caught by snow. The wide open spaces were a lovely concept but the wide empty spaces and snow up to your ass were a bad combination. The Impala was no snowmobile.

They had thought about checking in at Sioux Falls and seeing how Jody and Chuck Elbert were doing but the need to get further south of the impending front took precedence and limited the "checking in" to a phone call.

Listening to Jody go on about how great it was to have Chuck's help and companionship, Dean once again felt that he had made a good call. Chuck had already hauled his trailer into place on Bobby's lot and the land was being cleared by the junk dealers Jody had found. Comfortable with the progress on the Paintball project Dean promised to drive into Sioux Falls at least by spring, but everyone agreed that running away from the oncoming storm was a wise move.

The drive from Calgary to West Lafayette, Indiana was over seventeen hundred miles. If they drove in shifts and made only minimal food, rest and gas stops they could drive it in 30 to 35 hours. Rest stops could stretch that out to 40 hours if they slept. The Hunter's Moon Festival this year was the first week in October and Dean wanted to get there and have plenty of time to look up some of Dad's old contacts.

Other than Jody and Garth, the Winchesters had pretty much had lost all ties with the hunting community. The brothers were now considered either legends or something to hunt and Dean felt the urge to rebuild a network of people they could depend on to help in time of need. It might not be possible to reconnect with these people but Dean was willing to try. He hoped the tradition of a no-kill zone at the Festival was still in force.

If it wasn't then he was throwing himself and his brother into the fire.

The trip to the border was almost 600 miles and would take 10 to 12 hours. Sam offered to take the first shift and even with the thought of driving through the night hanging over him, Dean could not sleep. He sat and watched the passing landscape and his brother.

Sam was the one person in the world that Dean felt he really didn't need to defend himself against. They had their problems but kept coming back to each other, two souls bound together, in perpetual orbit. Sam could be considered the center of Dean's world. Dean wondered if he was Sam's center and if, in spite of all his efforts to leave, that was why Sam kept coming back to him.

XXXXXXX

Swimming up from the depths he could see the rippling light of the moon reflected above him on the face of the water. Reaching desperately for air he touched the surface and the moon seemed within reach, just an arm's length away. His hands touched the warmth and he breathed. He felt strong arms enfold him and safe harbor arrived.

"Dean, are you alright?" He heard Sam's voice and it meant everything to him. His brother stoked his hair; fingers touched his lips and outlined his face.

"It's alright. You're safe. Come back to me." Sam's voice promised everything he had ever wanted.

They sank together, body, mind and soul matched and melded. No longer afraid, here was warmth and love.

Sam rocked him slowly, murmuring words of comfort; a humming in his mind of a song long looked for but seemingly lost in time. "Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better."

Their lips locked together and he breathed his brother's air. No longer alone, shut out in the dark, no monsters here, only each other. Safe in their bed, hands roaming everywhere. No separation, flesh to flesh, just one heartbeat, synchronized.

XXXXXXX

After crossing the border, Dean had taken over the driving and they had crossed North Dakota in the dark. Another 500 miles and 10 hours later the lines on the blacktop had begun to double and slide. After 22 hours in the car, they were more than half way to Indiana and the need for sleep was overwhelming. Dean stopped at a small motel outside of Fargo and they got a room. Shower warmed flesh had piled into bed and they slept, interrupted only by Dean's dream of drowning.

Now Dean studied his brother as they ate breakfast in the little diner. He remembered what they had done in the dark and suddenly he let go of his doubts. He loved his brother, so what? This was real, no magic 'gifts' no hiding behind a Supernatural persona, he simply loved his brother and wanted to sink into that safe, warm flesh again and again, ensorcelled by his brother's eyes.

No more skanky woman and meaningless sex, now he wanted more. He wanted the promise of forever, the dream of belonging, a world in his brother's eyes. They could be one, unshaken. A unit forged in fire and blood and fear. The only sure safety in this world was their bond. Dean was content and he knew deep in his bones that Sam was too.

They left the diner in lock step and Sam reached over and held the door as Dean passed through. Dean could feel the eyes on their backs, hostile, judging and cruel. They were an obvious pair, a couple in tune with each other, their bond apparent to all who cared to look.

Out in the lot they circled the car. "My turn to drive, I think." Sam said, smiling into his brother's eyes. He took Dean's face between his hands and kissed him in the early morning light.

"Freaking homos!" a voice cut through the cold air. "Keep it off the streets. There's children here, you perverts." A man stood with his hand on the handle of a car parked a few spaces down; his features twisted in hate. Dean looked at him and wondered if it was all hate. Maybe there was just a touch of jealousy there. A longing after what he could never have, as if not only himself but God too, denied him.

Sam shrugged and got into the driver's seat. Dean walked around to the passenger side.

"Keep it to yourself, man." Dean said. "No one asked for your opinion and last I checked even North Dakota was still free."

"Not for your kind; freedom is for men, not freaks." The man made a little run at Dean. It was not even a believable threat but Dean felt Sam coming forward.

"Not now, Sam." Dean put out a hand to stop his brother. "Leave the cat at home. I'm pretty sure this guy is all hot air. No need to scare the crap out of him"

Dean turned and smiled at the still advancing man.

The stranger was eyeing Sam, all 6'4" of him and weighing his chances. "Just get out of here." he shouted. "Your kind is not welcome in a God fearing town with decent people. Stay away from our kids."

"Boy, that just winds it up all in one big ball of spite." Sam glanced at Dean. "Come on; let me eat his heart, if I can find it."

Dean laughed and pushed Sam back. "No heart eating, no terrifying the natives. Get in the car, It's still a long way to Indiana."


	15. Chapter 15 - Sex Along the Highway

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Warning **– Detailed sex scene happens in a motel in Rockford, Illinois.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 15

**Sex Along the Highway**

_The long and winding road_

_That leads to your door_

_Will never disappear_

_I've seen that road before_

_It always leads me here._

_Leads me to your door_

_ooOoo_

_The wild and windy night_

_That the rain washed away_

_Has left a pool of tears_

_Crying for the day_

_Why leave me standing here?_

_Let me know the way_

_ooOoo_

_Many times I've been alone_

_And many times I've cried_

_Anyway you'll never know_

_The many ways I've tried_

_ooOoo_

_And still they lead me back_

_To the long winding road_

_You left me standing here_

_A long long time ago_

_Don't leave me waiting here_

_Lead me to your door_

_ooOoo_

The Long and Winding Road was written by Paul McCartney and appeared on the "Let It Be_" _album.

The 1970's song was the last single released by the Beatles while all four of them were still alive.

"We about ready to go?" Dean looked at Sam. "I think we're just about finished with the friendly parking lot denizens of Fargo, North Dakota. Let's push on the Twin Cities"

"Yeah, there isn't much here for us. We might as well just keep on going." Sam smiled. "I can't even be distracted by Fargo. I looked it up last night and the most interesting thing I found was that the Red River flows North through the center of town on its way to drain into Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. North flowing rivers are kind of rare in the states."

Dean drew back. "That's it? What do they do for fun around here?"

"Don't have any idea and we definitely want to be out of here before that storm hits. The River freezes over and creates ice damns that flood the city and surrounding flat lands in the winter. Cold, wet and nasty,"

"No hunts?" Dean was surprised.

"The only things I came up with were a haunted trailer park and the Riverside Cemetery." Sam flashed a smile. "Voices only, no apparitions or attacks; seems like even the ghosts find the place boring."

Dean laughed and smacked his hands on the steering wheel. "Alright, we're out of here. God, a haunted trailer park. Really? That takes trailer trash to a whole different level."

They pulled out of the lot and found I-94 East to Fergus Falls and on to Minneapolis. The Impala loved interstates and her tires hummed happily, engine rumbling and the wind blowing through her open windows. Music surged out onto the road and that made it as close to a Winchester happy family gathering as they could get.

The Minnesota country side was wet and green and full of streams and lakes but the trees were changing colors and winter was on the way. The cows standing knee-deep in grass would soon have their backs turned to the wind and the bright fall sky would be loaded with rolling angry storm clouds.

Minneapolis was only about 4 hours or 225 miles away and they decided to skirt the metro area, have lunch and keep driving on to Rockford, Illinois, an additional 350 miles or 5 hours further along. That would make their day on the road about 10 hours long but the back of the trip would be broken. West Lafayette was only a little more than 200 miles from Rockford.

I-94 shot right through the center of Minneapolis so they didn't avoid the city traffic but it was the middle of the day when they passed through and it wasn't so bad. They stopped on the other side of the city at a highway rest stop that sported a gas station and a 50's looking diner. Dean felt like all they needed was a rowboat tied on the roof and a couple of kids in the back seat to blend right into the Minnesota life style.

XXXXXXX

It was almost 10 by the time they found a motel on the South side of Rockford. Dean stretched the kinks out and yawned. He felt like falling straight into bed now that his back was uncurled from the car seat but his stomach was beating a big bass drum.

Sam laughed from across the room. "I can hear your stomach from over here. What do you want to eat?"

"My ass outright refuses to get back in that car." Dean responded. "Any delivery places listed on that card?" he pointed at a 'Visitor's Information' card lying on the table.

Sam picked up the card. "Pizza, spaghetti and antipasto or Chinese or chicken and fries. Take your pick." "Get whatever you like, Sam and wake me when it gets here. " Dean fell like a harvested tree onto their bed.

The smell of pizza woke him up. "Getting led around by my stomach, now," he complained. Sam came over and gave him an arm up off the bed.

"Come on. Dinner's all set up on the table. You aren't eating it in our bed. Move it."

They ate and then moved to the bed. Dean reached and touched Sam's face, outlining sculptured cheekbones and sweeping a finger over soft lips.

"All happy now?" Sam asked him and started removing their clothes. Boots first then a swift kiss. Socks next and another kiss. Sam went along, taking turns, his body then Deans' body. Dean just lay there; he felt cared for, well fed and warm and long, strong fingers were messaging his naked feet. Sam knew where to hit the nerves so that little frissons of electricity ran up his legs. His muscles began to relax and he sank into the softness of the mattress.

Sam stood and turned out all the lights then opened the curtains so that moonlight flooded into the room. He stood in front of the window and stripped. The moonlight painted every muscle with light and shadow. A glow reflected off the long flat sheaths of his thighs and ass. His shoulders, waist and crotch flowed together in a perfect V . Dean though of every marble statue he had ever seen.

Sam was beautiful and definitely not made of marble. His skin was warm and tinted gold from the sun.

"When do you go sun bathing?" Dean wondered.

Sam laughed and came back to the bed. "Never you mind. Come on. Warm up. I want to feel you get all hot and bothered." He ran his hands up and down Dean's body then pulled at his clothes.

"I'm not going to do all the work. Get up and strip, lazy ass. I want to watch." Sam lay on his side; his head propped up on one hand while he played with his cock with the other. Dean's eyes went right to Sam's crotch and he watched his brother lengthen and swell.

He stripped off the remaining pieces of fabric and lay back down on the bed, reaching out to touch that cock himself. Sam rolled on his back and let Dean fondle him. "That's good. Keep it going."

He reached out and took possession of Dean's head. Pushing it down, he murmured, "Go on. Kiss it. Run your tongue down it and then…" Sam paused. "Take me in your mouth."

Dean felt owned. He obeyed Sam's every order. He willingly suckled and Sam's hot, hard flesh filled his mouth. He dragged his fingers down broad thighs and held on, trying to sink into the tender flesh.

Sam responded with wandering hands. "Go on, big brother, keep sucking. Make me hard and I'll take care of you."

Dean heard the snick of a bottle of lube opening and Sam's hands became slick and damp. His cock was surrounded with a moist, firm hand and fingers made traces all over his ass, finally sliding down the valley and finding the promised land. First a single finger breached his opening, forcing itself in and out, over and over, until his muscle relaxed.

Then there were two fingers, stretching and pushing, The fingers made a direct prostrate hit and a thrill ran through his body, stiffening his cock .He sucked Sam harder and moaned and arched his back, trying to get those fingers in deeper.

Sam pulled him up to his lips, fingers still working him open "I love you, Dean. I'll never, ever leave you again." Sam kissed him, holding his head with his hand in his hair, fingers never leaving his ass. His head was dragged back; stretching his neck which Sam attacked with tongue and teeth.

His collar bone fell victim to Sam's lips. Dean knew there was going to be a huge bruise there tomorrow but he welcomed the mark of possession.

Sam pulled him closer, and continued to abuse his neck and shoulders, peppering marks all over the soft, sweet skin. A third finger was inserted and the burn and pain increased.

"Lay on your stomach." Sam pushed to roll his brother over. Dean cooperated and tucked his face into his pillow, fingers knotting into the sheets on either side. He felt Sam rise up to his knees and his hips were manhandled and lifted up. Now he was positioned on his spread knees with his chest on the bed and his ass on offer in the air.

Sam's tongue slid down his ass crack and stopped at the abused hole, circling and licking. He pushed in, soothing the burn a little and Dean wiggled and moaned, wanting more. In a minute he had more, a lot more. Sam's cock was a hell of a lot bigger than either the fingers or the tongue.

Sam grabbed his shoulders and held on, pounding his ass. Every thrust drove him up the bed then his lover drew him back down to meet another thrust. Each time his prostate was struck a thrill ran up his dick and the sensations were so mixed he no longer could separate them. They all felt good, He even welcomed the pain of the beating his ass was taking

Sam moved his hands to his hips and held on as he drove into Dean even harder than before. Now Dean didn't slide up. He was frozen in place and Sam drove his climax right out of him with three heavy blows to his sensitized prostrate . Dean came all over the sheets and there was an explosion of sparkling light in his head. He screamed as he came.

Sam worked through Dean's climax, reaching after his own with more heavy, hard thrusts and he emptied himself in his brother's tight, clenching channel with a deep long moan. They froze, locked into position while they caught their breath.

Sam pulled out with a little tug and fell on his back. Dean lay on his side, staring at the man who had just pounded him into submission and gave him the best fuck of his life.

Now that they could hear again, they noticed a pounding noise that wasn't their fault. Evidently the neighbors felt audience participation was needed. They heard a man's voice say "Thank God. I think they've killed each other."

Sam giggled and reached over and pulled Dean closer. He kissed the top of Dean's head, "I guess we put on a show for the people."

The brothers fell asleep in each other's arms.


	16. Chapter 16 - Joining the Festival

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**A/N** The second half of this chapter is the set-up for the action described in the first chapter of this story. If you don't remember who Silas or Ed Gainer are you might want to skim that chapter again.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 16

**Joining the Festival**

_There are places I remember all my life_

_Though some have changed _

_Some forever not for better_

_Some have gone and some remain_

_ooOoo_

_All these places have their moments_

_Of lovers and friends I still can recall_

_Some are dead and some are living_

_In my life I loved them all_

_ooOoo_

_And with all these friends and lovers_

_There is no one compares with you_

_And these memories lose their meaning_

_When I think of love as something new_

_ooOoo_

_And I know I'll never lose affection_

_For people and things that went before_

_I know I'll often stop and think about them_

_In my life I loved you more_

_ooOoo_

_And I know I'll never lose affection_

_For people and things that went before_

_I know I'll often stop and think about them_

_In my life I loved you more_

_In my life I loved you more_

_ooOoo_

"In My Life" was released on the 1965 Beatles album"Rubber Soul"

Song was credited to Lennon-McCartney

Early morning: Sam sat up in bed, stretched, yawned and glanced at his lover lying warm and curled up into his side. He smiled and traced the dark blood bruise he had left last night with a gentle finger then leaned over to kiss twitching lips.

"I know you're awake," he murmured. "You're not fooling anyone."

Dean answered "Who you talking to, LeRoy? Nobody here." He giggled as Sam dug long, nimble fingers into his ribs. "Damn it, Sam. Cut it out."

Sam kept tickling and Dean kept moving away until he slid right off the side of the bed and landed on his ass on the floor. Sam leaned over and looked at him. "Happy now? Go take your shower. I'll just wait here in this nice warm bed until you're done. Go on, git!"

Dean swiped up at Sam's face. "Who died and made you boss?"

"Oh, I think we figured that out last night, didn't we?" Sam stretched again. "And when you get dressed I want a nice breakfast in bed. I did all the work last night, you can do it this morning."

"Hey, nobody said that was going to happen every time." Dean groused.

"Stop fussing. It's too early to have a relationship discussion." Sam pulled the comforter back up over his shoulders. "Besides, aren't you the one with the no chick-flick moments rule? You must have known one day that would come back and bite you in the ass." Sam snickered and mumbled. "Bite you on the ass, heh, heh."

Dean gathered his dignity and a bed sheet around himself and headed for the bathroom. "I'm just telling you, don't think you're going to be the boss, bitch."

Sam laughed from under the blanket. "I'm pretty sure we established who the bitch is around here."

XXXXXXX

Dean walked into the motel room with paper bags full of diner breakfast and started laying the food out on the table. Sam exited the bathroom, rubbing his hair dry with one towel and another one clinging to his slim hips. Dean looked up and realized he was actually getting a warm rush from the idea that Sam's body was his anytime he wanted.

Sam caught the flash of Dean's eyes. "If you're done perving on my body we can get down to polishing the details of this trip now. West Lafayette is only a couple of hundred miles away. Do we have a place to stay yet? "

Dean blushed and looked back down at the food. ""Yeah, I got this set up a month ago. Thousands of just tourists and battlefield re-enactors show up for this festival along with all the Hunters. We'd be sleeping in the car if I hadn't set it up. Even so, all that was left was a bed n' breakfast half way to Lafayette."

Sam picked up his messenger bag and pulled out various papers and brochures. "You know, this Festival is fairly complex. It seems to be made up of several different pieces."

Dean sat and portioned out the food. "Is this a standard Sammy lecture? Cause I'll just eat and nod periodically if it is; you know, the normal response to the wife's voice; Yes, Dear; Yes, Dear"

Sam snorted and sorted through his papers. "If I catch you nodding and repeating "Yes, Dear" to my research you are going to be in such pain later. And I am not your wife, bitch."

"First we have the Feast of the Hunter's Moon which is a re-creation of an annual fall gathering of the French and the local Native Americans at Fort Ouiatenon in the mid 1700's on the banks of the Wabash River southwest of West Lafayette. That's been going on for hundreds of years. "

"This annual party got mixed up with our Hunters who decided that this gathering would be an good meeting place for Hunters from all of the country. They originally started coming here in early October hunting lunar-influenced werewolves that were attracted by the moon and all the humans gathering outside in the evenings."

"Then you have the battle of Tippecanoe. In 1811 government forces lead by General William Henry Harrison stood their ground against an attack by the forces of Native American leaders, Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, who was also known as The Prophet. Tecumseh was trying to hold on to the Native American lands that the tribes had roamed for thousands of years. The U.S. Military was sent to pacify the land and make way for settlers."

"It was on the battlefield of Tippecanoe, seven miles north of Lafayette, that the Native Americans lost control of the Midwestern lands and it was also here that the political career of William Harrison was launched, based on the supposedly successful battle. He became president in 1840 and died in office of pneumonia 32 days later, the shortest presidency on record. There are re-enactors that come to put that battle on every year, drawing even more people to the Festival"

Dean looked up from his breakfast. "That about it, Professor? Anything else of interest?"

"Only the surprising number of ghost towns in Tippecanoe County. Not the normal kinds of ghost towns either, like in the west. These are towns that were laid out and named and platted in the county records but never came to life. That's a whole difference kind of ghost town. Nothing there for us, I think. Very few people ever actually lived in these phantom towns."

"Ok, then." Dean stood and stretched. "If we're done maybe we should hit the road. It's about 4 hours in to the bed n' breakfast. Then we going to have to hunt down and set up meetings with some of these old contacts from Dad's journal. Who knows if any of these guys are even alive anymore?"

Dean started moving around the room, packing up their duffels. He noticed that Sam was just watching, not helping. "What's up with you? You planning to ride in the car naked with your junk hanging out or are you going to get dressed at all today?"

"I just like the idea that I'm finally free to just watch and stare if I want to." Sam said. "It sure takes a lot of the stress out of being trapped in a room with you."

Dean smiled. "I'm glad you like the view but it would be more useful if you would get off your butt and help out."

Sam rose and covered the distance to his brother in about two long strides. He then kissed his brother hard. It was an 'I own you' kind of kiss and for a moment a kind of violence hung in the air

"Whoa, Sam! What the hell was that?" Dean pulled back.

Sam grimaced. "For just a minute The Sphinx was coming out. He likes respect. I would be careful with the orders, brother."

"Hey, get it under control Sam or this party is going to be over before it really gets started." Dean replied, knowing that boundaries should have been discussed last night but the opportunity had been run over by their desire for sex.

XXXXXXX

Hours later they arrived at their Festival lodgings. It once had been a Indiana family's home; a two story, rambling edifice decorated with a bygone eras' gingerbread woodwork. It looked clean and welcoming from the outside. Once in doors however, the welcoming face got a little cooler when the manager understood that the reservation was for two young men, traveling together.

"Are you gentlemen sure you are going to be happy with the suite?" he asked. "There is the requested sitting room but there is only one bedroom with a king size bed. We could try to accommodate you elsewhere but we are pretty well booked up."

"Don't worry about it." Dean told him. "We'll cope."

Inside the house was all dark wood and mahogany stair cases. An effort had been made to brighten up the place with rag rugs and embroidered samplers on the walls. Dean thought the whole place looked pretty girly but they had to settle for what they could get. They were directed to their rooms on the second floor with the manager's eyes digging holes in the backs of the heads all the way up the stairs.

Dean sat at the table and went through the journal, assembling a list of phone numbers. Sam stretched out on the chaise lounge and listened to his brother work the phone. After a little while he drifted off to sleep.

"Come on, princess." Dean's voice interrupted his dream. "We got a date. Get up."

"Where we going?" Sam asked and yawned.

"To a bar back in West Lafayette. I managed to track down a couple of Dad's old contacts and we're meeting them there."

"I don't know ,Dean. Is this such a good idea? Remember the last bar we got caught in." Sam ran his fingers through his hair.

"This is one of the reasons we're here. We need more contacts than just Garth. What if we need help one night and we can't find him? Right now our only backups are Jody and Chuck Elbert. We gotta' make some new friends."

XXXXXXX

The place was simply known as The Old Bar. It had been there as long as anyone could remember. Like the river and the fields, it was a natural part of the landscape. Once a year it was drown in visitors. A lot of them were simple tourists attracted by the Festival but mixed in were another breed of men.

Hard men, men who wore their scars like diaries of their lives. They held their beers in one hand and the other hand rested on a weapon. They always were expecting an attack. They had seen too many taken unaware to ever relax.

When Sam and Dean entered a ripple swept through the place. Men at the bar swiveled on their stools to take a good look at the younger men. In this place Sam and Dean counted as children, the next generation, coming along to take the places of lost warriors. There also were those that had heard evil of the Winchesters; that the boys were themselves, monsters, worthy of killing, of hunting.

Sam leaned into Dean. "Who are we here to see, Dean? Some of these guys don't look particularly friendly."

"Earl and Karl Montain, a couple of good, ole' boys out of West Virginia. They hunted wolves with Dad before this place was cleaned out. I found them in his journal." Dean replied.

"Earl and Karl?" Sam chuckled. "How did that happen?

"They're brothers." Dean answered. "I guess mom was a bit of a poet."

An older man stood up at a table across the room and waved a beer bottle at them. "Dean, Sam, come on over." The Montain brother looked alike and may have been almost twins before the years separated them into individuals. Earl had a beard, Karl had sideburns. Their once dark hair was now streaked with grey. To survive to old age as Hunters meant that they were either very good, very lucky, or sly foxes. Only time would tell Dean which kind they were.

They sat with the brothers and drank beer and talked of who had survived the past year, who had died and how they had died. The Winchesters told of the Deane House hunt and the Montain brother spoke of hunting black dogs in the Appalachian Mountains.

This was the heart of the Hunter's Moon festival for Hunters; renewing old ties, seeing old friends, learning of new threats and discoveries in their world. Embedded among average, every day people the Hunters were well hidden. As long as no one eavesdropped on their peculiar conversations an invisible wall kept them insulated from violence. Violence from the things they hunted or violence from each other.

Various strangers came to the table to give the Winchesters the once over. Little was really known about John Winchesters' boys and of that, almost nothing was known of Dean. Sam had been a source of speculative gossip for years. Some came to the table perhaps expecting devil's horns or the mark of Satan on his forehead. Most were surprised by the quiet, sweet-faced boy with a dimpled smile.

Some relaxed and stayed to drink a beer and make conversation but there were others who were clearly uncomfortable around the brothers. Of this type one that stood out was a rat-faced man named Ed Gainer.

Gainer claimed that werewolves were once again gaining ground in Tippecanoe County and that he was putting together a hunt for the following night. No one trusted Ed Gainer who had met him or hunted with him. Most only made that mistake one time and avoided him after that. Gainer insisted that everyone at the table, including the Winchester take a little hand drawn map from him of where the hunt was supposed to take place. It was a wooded area known as Lantern ridge and Gainer claimed that a group of the wolves would be there the next night.

He never made it completely clear as to how he knew this but he was satisfied to leave his message and his photocopied maps behind and wander off.

Karl and Earl thought Gainer's manner was odd. He usually stood and tried to nag people into joining his hunts. Tonight it seemed that his heart just wasn't in it.


	17. Chapter 17 - Chasing Winchesters

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**A/N** A good part of this chapter references back to Chapter 5 of Walt and Roy Get What They Deserve where the BAU met the Winchesters. You might want to read that but it is not mandatory.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 17

**Chasing Winchesters**

_A free bird leaps on the back_

_Of the wind and floats downstream_

_Till the current ends and dips his wing_

_In the orange suns rays_

_And dares to claim the sky_

_ooOoo_

_But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage_

_Can seldom see through his bars of rage_

_His wings are clipped and his feet are tied_

_So he opens his throat to sing_

_ooOoo_

_The caged bird sings with a fearful trill_

_Of things unknown but longed for still_

_And his tune is heard on the distant hill for_

_The caged bill sings of freedom_

_ooOoo_

_The free bird thinks of another breeze_

_And the trade winds soft through_

_The sighing trees_

_And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright_

_Lawn and he names the sky his own_

_ooOoo_

_But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams_

_His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream_

_His wings are clipped and his feet are tied_

_So he opens his throat to sing_

_ooOoo_

_The caged bird sings with_

_Fearful trill of things unknown_

_But longed for still and his_

_Tune is heard on the distant hill_

_For the caged bird sings of freedom_

_ooOoo_

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou , 1969

ooOoo

'"Oh, crap!" Penny Garcia looked at the e-mail request in disbelief. She tapped her comm link and got Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI on the line.

"Boss, have you seen the Special Request from the Indianapolis office?" she asked

"No, Garcia, I haven't opened up my e-mail, yet. Hold on a minute." Hotch replied

There were various fumbling noises and then "Oh, crap!" echoed over the line.

"My feelings exactly, Boss." Garcia giggled.

"This has been copied over to the entire team?" he asked.

"Yes." Garcia confirmed. "Everybody should show up in a real good mood. Should I get the conference room set up?"

"That would be really excellent, Garcia. Have General Services set up with lots of black coffee and see if they can get doughnuts in. I think the team is going to need both caffeine and sugar hits for this one." Hotchner replied.

Half an hour later the relevantt members of the BAU were assembled in the main conference room. Derek Morgan was looking grim. Dr. Spenser Reid was sprawled in his chair, already hooked up to his iPod and on his second large cup of black coffee. David Rossi sat alert and scanned his fellow agents, his chin resting on his tented fingers. JJ was there but clearly uncomfortable and finally Penny Garcia arrived in a flashy Halloween themed dress complete with pumpkin colored ruffles.

Hotch looked at his assembled agents. "As you are all aware by now the Indianapolis office has requested our presence in regard to a potential kidnapping or murder of a woman named Alice Conway. The reason we have been requested is because the chief suspects in the case are the Winchester brothers."

Morgan groaned. "I supposed we're listed as the most recent contact for those weirdoes."

Hotch covered his mouth with his hand. It wasn't professional to snort at another agent's description of a couple of suspects. "Well, we did re-activate their "Most Wanted" status and we had to turn in reports from the incident in Nebraska. We and that agent from Omaha, Ray Ellis, are the most current contacts the agency knows about."

JJ pretty much waved her hand in the air. "Hotch, I wasn't on that trip. I know nothing about these guys. Shouldn't I be brought up to date?"

Hotch glanced her way. "Actually JJ, I was hoping that you could stay behind again and act as our liaison with the office. Garcia can bring you up to speed on the details that aren't in the official reports."

JJ raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean details that are not in the reports? I thought everything had to be reported."

"After you talk with Garcia, feel free to come to me and make suggestions as to how we can amend the reports without looking like an entire room full of mental cases." he responded.

Garcia reached over and patted JJ's shoulder. "Don't worry about it right now. I'll tell you all about it later."

Hotch looked over his room full of agents. "I think the real question here is do we want to get involved in the Weird World of Winchester again. Can we avoid it? And if we do decide to avoid it what do we tell the Indianapolis office? I understand that Ray Ellis has already told them that he doesn't want to be involved but will follow his orders."

Rossi spoke up. "Can we do that? This is a valid request based on our acknowledged familiarity with the suspects. Is there any possible reason we could give anyone to deny this request? I think we are stuck with it. If we don't comply we are all going to get put through the wringer by the higher-ups."

Then Derek decided to put in his two cents. "I haven't been comfortable with letting these guys get away with murder, even if what we saw was unexplainable. I understand that Ellis continued to pursue them after we left and I respect him for that. We should have never let them go."

Hotch began to gather up his materials. "I think what I am hearing is that we should, at minimum, go to Indianapolis. I think that we should assist the Indy office as much as we can but step back and let their local agents take the lead. Once they hit the wall of weird that is the Winchesters we can help them re-group and draw conclusions as to how to continue.

As he looked around the table Hotch decided that the team seemed comfortable with the plan. Derek looked annoyed, Rossi looked interested, Reid just went on being Reid and Garcia actually looked happy.

"Alright then, wheels up in about two or so hours. I'll have my assistant make reservations and arrange vehicles." Hotch nodded and dismissed the group, with no idea at all about the mission impossible he had just landed on his Administrative Assistant.

XXXXX

On a chill Indiana morning the group that gathered in the offices of the FBI appeared all red cheeked and rosy, huddling around the coffee station. The out of town visitors dumped their coats and scarves all over the place. There were the 5 visitors from the Quantico office and Ray Ellis, an SSA out of Omaha.

Ray appeared to be a little put out and abrupt, as if he was not really very happy as a member of the group. In addition there were a number of the Indy office SSA's. Chief among them was Indy Unit Chief Harris Williamson.

"Agents," Williamson addressed the room, "we are pleased to welcome you to the Indianapolis office and look forward to working with you. I wish I had been able to get you some warmer weather, but I'm only a Unit Chief and control of the weather is beyond my grasp."

A weak wave of mild laughter went around the office. Derek Morgan's face had "What a tool" printed on it in large letters.

Williamson took note of Morgan's expression and filed it away in his "Matters to be Dealt with Later" file.

Williamson was a wiry, grey haired man who had achieved his current position with a combination of hard work and dogged determination. His mind literally did function like a file cabinet and he rarely lost track of anything. He was not exactly popular with the agents working for him but they all respected him. Hotchner's first thought was this was exactly the kind of man who should not run into the Winchesters.

David Rossi was thinking along the same lines. He recognized the type of agent that Williamson typified. Hard working, unimaginative , and stubborn, he suspected that Williamson would chew at the Winchester world like a bulldog and wouldn't stop chewing until he had made their world into something he could identify.

There was already a sense of defeat and depression in the room. Even Williamson noticed it. He turned to his main SSA. Dietrich Kenny. " Ken, would you please take over the briefing and let the agents know what we have?"

Dietrich Kenny stood and Hotchner was immediately relieved. This was a man he thought they could work with, younger, more mobile; he gave the impression of a quicker wit when he flashed a simple smile at everyone. Such a simple action that put everyone more at ease; it was something that Williamson had not done.

"I am SSA Dietrich Kenny. Most everyone in the office calls me Ken and please feel free to do so. I will be the main field officer for this case and I look forward to getting to know each of you." Kenny was of medium height and dressed down. No FBI dark suit guy, he wore clothes that wouldn't be out of pace in an open field; jeans, a work shirt with the arms rolled up and boots. He was handsome and fair skinned, giving the impression of a good old Indiana farm boy.

Hotch wondered if it wouldn't be a good idea for every else to follow the man's lead and try to blend in with the people attending the festival. He thought he would mention it when it was his turn to speak.

Ken turned to the while board set up at the front of the room. "This is what we know so far." He tapped a picture of a young, dark haired woman. "This is Alice Conway. Two nights ago she disappeared. She lived in a trailer pack in West Lafayette and the neighbors heard some crashing and loud voices coming from her trailer after midnight on Tuesday. When no one saw her leave for work the next morning the park manager took it upon himself to investigate. What he saw when he opened her door lead to us getting a call from the local police."

Ken moved to another picture on the board and he tapped it with a pointer. "You have in front of each of you a folder containing copies of these pictures so you can get a closer look. Her trailer was completely trashed. Even the cupboards were opened and everything thrown down on the floor. There are what look like claw marks on the inside walls and small splashes of blood here and there on the floor."

"There was no body but there are the prints of what looks like a very large dog all around the trailer. We have no idea of what happened here and nothing has been seen of Alice since. The local police were going down the normal paths of investigation; old boyfriends, close friends, family, former employers and all the usual until they received an anonymous tip."

Everybody looked up at the change in Ken's voice. "Someone called in to the Sheriff's office and told them that the Winchester brothers were in town. The caller wouldn't give a name and all we know is that it sounded like a man.

Ken put down his pointer and rested his hands on the table. "Normally we wouldn't get so excited about a tip like this but the Winchesters have something of a track record. They have been accused of something like this before, even if it never was proved and right now the Festival of the Hunter's Moon is happening in West Lafayette so it would make all kind of sense for them to be on the scene."

Spenser Reid perked up. "Why would that make sense? Isn't the Festival something of a cultural and historical event? I thought it involved history buffs and battle re-enactors. Why would the Winchesters be interested in some so….well... mundane?"

Ken stood up straight and rubbed the back of his neck, evidently uncomfortable about something. He glanced at Williamson. "You need to know that a lot of our agents and even the local police don't believe in what I am about to say."

Williamson snorted. "Freaking fairy tales is what this is about."

Ken tightened his lips. "There is only one reason that makes it believable that the Winchesters would come here at this time of year. The Festival has a darker side that is not going to be found in the tourist brochures or the Chamber of Commerce advertising. It is whispered that men called Hunters gather here at this time of the year. They are a violent, hidden fringe group that believe in all kinds of paranormal activity; ghosts, monsters, Gods."

"Just what I said," Williamson barked out. "Fairytales, ghost stories. Nothing to it. Bunch of old women and faith healers pushing snake oil on the unwary."

Ken looked around the table. "No matter what side of the argument you are on, something draws some very strange people to West Lafayette every year and it would not be surprising to find the Winchesters among them. Why they would take Alice Conway and what they would use her or her body for is something we need to find out."

Ken sat down. "The reason we have asked the BAU and Agent Ellis here to help us is your recent encounter with the brothers in the Mid-West. Is there anything you could do for us?"

Hotchner rose to his feet and kept his eves on Agent Williamson. "Yes, we have had recent contract with the brothers. I believe that Agent Ellis has had even more recent contact."

"My suggestion to you is not to chase them. It will only drive them deeper underground and they are very good at disappearing. Even when they were actively being pursued they had the ability to fade away. For the past few years they had been presumed dead and then magically reappear at a bar in Nebraska. A bar that was described to us as a Hunter's Bar."

Hotch glanced around the room to see how his last statement had been received. He believed he could separate the believers from the non-believers by the looks on their faces. He figured the room was divided just about 50-50. He went on.

"It would be best just to join in to the community somehow. We don't have to hide. The Winchesters aren't afraid of us or you. Take my word for it. If we just let them know we want to talk they'll come to us. I think we should all just try to blend in to the Festival and wait. " He sat down just as Agent Williamson rose.

"Well, I can't agree with you there. I think we hunt them down just like any other set of scumbags. We don't swallow all this mystical crap here in Indiana. I'm surprised that you people do. If we get a lead on their location we are going to hunt them down."

He cleared his throat and sneered at the out-of-towners. "You guys can come with us, if you want. We're going to a place called The Old Bar where these people supposedly gather. Come or stay here, I really don't care." He stomped out the room, followed by half a dozen agents.

Dietrich Kenny rose. "Sorry for that. He really doesn't mean to insult you. It's just that we have heard this stuff year and year and nothing ever comes of it. These Hunters don't usually cause trouble. They come and go along with the rest of the crowds. Agent Williamson is under pressure to make sure nothing happens to endanger the Festival's reputation."

Hotch replied, "I can understand that. We have all had that kind of pressure applied at one time or another and there is nothing more unpleasant to deal with. I do believe it would be best, however, if we all got on the road and tried to beat him to this bar. And I think it would be good for all of us to follow your lead and lose the FBI suits. I hope we all brought warm, casual clothes. If not, I'll make some kind of accommodations. We should get on the road as soon as possible."

"Oh, goody," Morgan mumbled. "On to spook central. What kind of place calls itself The Old Bar?"

XXXXXXX

In the early evening the SUV's full of agents from both camps pulled up near The Old Bar. Built on a rise overlooking the Wabash River, it was easy to see why it had existed for so long. The elevation allowed the old building to ride out the area's frequent floods. It may even been a colonial period building that had carried on, avoiding the "restoration mania" and remaining a useful gathering place for hundreds of years.

It looked warm and welcoming in the early evening mists and everyone was happy to get in out of the chill dampness into the warm yellow light of the bar. Smoke and chatter, the smell of grilling meat and laughter greeted the new arrivals.

They all scattered, looking for open spaces at tables and tried to insinuate themselves into existing groups where possible. It did no good to gather together when they were trying to pick up gossip. Ken's group and Hotchner's agents all went with the plan. Unfortunately Williamson and his agents stood stiffly together and might as well have waved a huge sign with FBI printed on it.

Williamson's approach was to wait for someone to come to them. He was hoping for a "snitch"; someone with an ax to grind or a desire to cozy up to local law enforcement for some perceived benefit. It was a known tactic and it often worked. Success, however, often was dependent on how closely knit a group was. If these Hunters chose to they could close up ranks and hide their secrets.

Hotchner kept a close eye on the Williamson group and even approved of it; with people focusing on the obvious his agents and Ken's fell off the radar. People might open up more easily. As they infiltrated more and more tables Hotch caught the word Winchester passing through the room more than once.

"Hey Hotch!" He looked around for who was calling his name and found Dietrich Kenny standing across the room at a table with two older men. Kenny waved him over and Hotch picked up his recently acquired beer and moved to meet the other agent.

"Hotch," said Kenny. "These guys are Karl and Earl Montain. They are guys I have met before. They helped out on a kid that went missing in the woods south of here last year."

The Montains stood and both shook Hotchner's hand and offered him a place at the table. The four men all sat down.

"I'm Karl," one of the men said. Hotch called him 'sideburns' in his head. "We understand you would like to talk to the Winchesters."

"Do you know them?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, we go back a ways with their father, John. They looked us up recently to bring us the news that John was dead and to make themselves known to us. Good kids. I would hate to see anything happen to them."

Ken interrupted. "Do you think it would be possible to get them to talk to us about the disappearance of Alice Conway?"

Now the other Montain spoke up. "I'm Earl, by the way. I guess you figured that out. Who's Alice Conway? Is that a local? What happened to her and why tie the Winchesters into it?"

Now it was Hotch that spoke up. "We really don't know what happened to her. Someone dropped a dime and called the local police to say that the Winchesters were in town and maybe someone should talk to them."

"That's an odd suggestion." Karl said. "As far as I know the Winchesters just arrived here the day before yesterday. You know who you guys might want to talk to…Silas." Karl pointed to a young man behind the bar delivering clean glasses to the racks. "The Winchesters dropped him off here late last night. He might be able to get a message to them for you."

Ken rose and so did Hotchner. "Thanks, gentlemen; you have been very helpful."

Just them Hotch noticed that Williamson was sittin table practically bumping heads with a rat-faced man. Williamson grabbed at one of his associates and pointed their way. The young agent made a bee-line for them.

"Agents," he said. "We have a potential location for the suspects. Agent Williamson wants to leave right away and would like your team to come with us."

Ken shrugged his shoulders and said to Hotchner, "At least we're invited along for the party. He could have left us behind." He turned back to the young agent. "Who's your informant?"

The young man replied "I'm not really sure. A local named Ed Gainer, I think."


	18. Chapter 18 - Naked and Captured

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**A/N:** Chapter 17 concerned the involvement of the BAU and set up their arrival at the Festival. This chapter starts out returning to Sam and Dean's meeting with Earl and Karl Montain at The Old Bar the previous night. If I have confused you, I'm sorry. I have two story tracks going here. They will be melded together soon.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 18

**Naked and Captured**

There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And before the street begins,

And there the grass grows soft and white,

And there the sun burns crimson bright,

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight

To cool in the peppermint wind.

ooOoo

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

And the dark street winds and bends

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow

We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And watch where the chalk-white arrows go

To the place where the sidewalk ends.

ooOoo

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go.

For the children, they mark, and the children, they know

The place where the sidewalk ends.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, 1974

After their brief run-in with Ed Gainer and his hunt recruiting efforts, Sam and Dean stood up and stretched. They once again went through the handshaking ritual with their new friends, Earl and Karl.

"It's been great meeting you guys," Dean said. "We got to get going. Our room is about 20 miles away and it's getting late. I hate to cut it short. It's been real nice to find old friends of Dad's."

Karl looked over the top of his beer. "Where the hell are you guys staying?"

Sam shrugged, "At a bed n breakfast called Bastione's. It's all that we could find. I guess we were just too slow to beat the crowd."

"Ah, hell," Earl responded. "We can fix that. As a matter of fact, you can help us out of a corner."

He looked over the room and his eyes landed on a blonde, lanky, young guy a few tables away. "Hey, Larry," Karl called. The young man looked up at the call and Karl waved him over.

"What's up, Karl?" the young man asked when he got to their table.

"Are you and Lacey really spending your wedding night in one of those motel cabins out back?" Karl asked.

Larry smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, bad planning on my part. I just didn't realize how crowded the place would be when we set the wedding up in Hope Chapel on the River. Lacey is being real nice about it, but I feel like I let her down. Not a good start to wedded bliss, is it?"

"What you'd say if we could get you into Bastione's tonight?" Karl continued.

"God, I'd owe you forever if you could fix that up, Karl." Larry was beaming.

Karl went on "Ok, Larry, these two guys are Sam and Dean and they think being stuck 20 miles out of town is a problem. They would really like to be in a cabin out back. You guys want to swap?"

The handshake ritual happened all over again and Larry and Dean worked out the logistics of swapping rooms. To grease the wheels, Karl offered to pay for the Bastione's room for Larry and his bride as a wedding present.

Finally the whirlwind of Larry, Dean and Larry's charming bride, Lacey, left the bar and peace descended. Sam was left with Earl and Karl.

Earl got up and bought them some more beers. When he returned with the cold bottles he said, as he handed one to Sam, "It's real good you guys looked us up tonight. Me and Karl wanted to do something for Larry's wedding and this worked out just great. Larry is a good kid. His Dad helped us out a lot in the past and we sort of look at Larry as an unofficial nephew."

"Where's his Dad?" asked Sam.

"Another Hunter gone. Freaking 'giest cracked his head open on a hunt up on West State Street north of Purdue University about 15 years ago. Nothing we could do about it. Lucky hit for the 'giest. Caught Larry's Dad right across the temple and killed him instantly. "

"That's too bad," Sam said. "Hey, what was his name? Did he know our Dad too?"

Karl snorted. "Yeah, he was Everett Pauly. He knew your Dad too, as much as anybody knew your Dad. John had a habit of turning friends into enemies in the space of a single sentence. Said something to Ev about the way he was raising Larry and Ev told him it was none of his business."

Sam laughed. "I can see that happening, better than you know. It happened a lot."

"We all said something to John at one time or another about the way he was raising you boys." Karl went on. "It turned a lot of people against John when they saw you boys being dragged around on John's hunts. A lot of people wanted to do something about it but John would just up and disappear when someone said something he didn't like so we just stopped talking." Karl took a long drink of his beer. "Sorry about that. We should have done something for you boys."

Sam smiled. "We turned out alright. We do Ok on our own and we lookout for each other. John's gone now and chewing over old hurts does no one any good."

Sam sat back and their table got quiet. The Montain brothers looked like they were mulling old memories. Sam looked around the bar trying to see if he could spot the Hunters. It was a pretty easy exercise. They stood out based on scars alone. Some of the men would look back directly at Sam but a percentage of them avoided his eyes or turned their backs when they saw him watching.

Time passed, people entered and left. Sam was comfortable and at peace. He often noticed how quiet the world could get when his loud Energizer bunny of a brother was missing. Dean cast an aura of excitement naturally. The addition of his Tammuz energy made him the center of any group.

Sam began to discern a pattern to the movement of Ed Gainer. Gainer spent a lot of time at the bar picking up beers and talking to the young bus boy. Sam thought it was odd. He also noticed that Gainer was trotting his beers back to a guy sitting at a table in the back of the room. Sam couldn't get a good look at the table sitter.

Sam leaned in to Karl. "What do you think Gainer's up to, Karl?"

Karl put down his beer. "I'll tell you what he's up to. He's trying to get a hunt together and no one who knows him will back him up. He gets people killed. I don't know who the guy at the table is but Gainer's making a habit out of kissing the guy's ass. I just hope Gainer doesn't talk young Silas into going with him. That's a good kid. I'd like to see him make it to his next birthday."

Sam pulled Gainer's map out of his pocket and took another look at it. "Just where would it be, Karl? Is it far away?"

Karl looked at the little map. "No, not really. "Here, let me show you." Karl pulled out a road map and traced the location with his finger. It was only about a mile or so inside the woods that started out at the back of the bar.

"I'll tell you what, Karl," Sam said. "When Dean gets back I'll talk to him about keeping an eye on the kid for you. And maybe I'll have another little talk with Gainer and find out what his problem is."

XXXXXXX

Later that night Sam ended up in a tree talking to Silas about the quality of his friends. He and Dean decided to give Silas a ride back to the bar since Ed Gainer and the mysterious "Tom" had left Silas behind assuming that the Winchesters would most likely kill the kid.

Once inside the Impala Silas was fascinated watching Sam morph back into a human again.

"Where are my clothes, Dean?" Sam asked.

"I think Silas might be sitting on them," Dean replied. "Hey, Silas, you see any shirts back there the size of circus tents?" Dean laughed. "Sam wants them."

Silas handed up the requested clothes and Sam's boots. "I know you guys are the Winchesters but exactly what are you? You're Supernaturals, for sure. Is that why that 'Tom' guy wants your bodies? Are you magical or something?"

"Slow down with the questions, kid." Dean huffed. "You're treading all over our personal secrets. Maybe we don't want to tell you this stuff. You're lucky we haven't eaten you yet."

Sam yelped. "Dean! God, why try to scare him?"

Dean looked at his brother. "I would like to point out that I am not the scary one in this car. He saw your cat. Damn, he saw your wings! On a scale of one to ten I barely rate a one."

Sam turned to Silas. "Look, I'm not going to eat you and if I was going to hurt you I would have done it up that tree. We actually came out here tonight to protect you. Karl and Earl were worried about you hanging out with Ed Gainer. Gainer is not a good guy."

"Did you see that werewolf come over the hill?"

Silas nodded yes.

"Ok, we think your buddy Gainer had something to do with creating that wolf. This area has been clean for years. The Hunters see to it. It's to their benefit to keep the festival clean so how is it that Gainer, who is a piss-poor hunter, suddenly knows there is a wolf in town and knows exactly where that wolf will be and when?"

"What happened to the wolf?" Silas asked.

Sam went on. "You saw the light, right?" Silas answered yes, he did. "Well that light was my brother here curing the werewolf. It turned into a poor confused naked lady who had no idea where she was or how she got there. I gave her one of my shirts and told here to go home. She said her name was Alice."

Silas looked up, surprised. "Alice Conway?"

"I think that's what she said." Sam answered.

"She's been missing for a couple of days. The cops are making a big thing out of it. I think they even called the FBI." Silas said.

Sam looked at Dean. "This begins to smell. As a matter of fact, it smells to heaven and it feels like a trap. Who would set us up like this?"

Silas doggedly continued on his first set of questions. "What are you guys and how can Dean heal a werewolf? That kind of stuff puts you directly on the Hunters' radar. Half the guys in that bar would want you dead if they knew."

"Well, Silas, in honor of us not killing you we would like to think that you're going to keep your mouth shut. As to what we are, we are Avatars of old Gods. I'm Maahees and Dean is Tammuz. Tammuz can heal and Maahees can kill."

Silas looked from one brother to the other, trying to decide if they were just pulling his leg. "Are you guys just jerking me around?"

"You've been around the Supernatural now long enough to know that weird shit happens." Sam replied. "Something happened to me and I ran into a couple of aspects of God. I think I saw Ezekiel's Wheel in the Sky and I got sucked in. Whatever it was I got splashed, possibly with the Grace of Angels, and became what I am. I passed it on to Dean with my blood and he changed too. That's the Cliff Notes version of our story."

"Ok," Silas thought about what he had just heard. "I think you should know that even through Ed Gainer supposedly organized the hunt for you two there was another guy offering to pay for it. I only ever heard him referred to as "Tom". He only talked to Ed. He's going to be your problem."

They had pulled up behind The Old Bar finally and stopped the car. Silas exited and told them he was going in. Dean looked at Sam. "You want to get a 'good night' beer?"

The three of them went in the back door and got stared at by every Hunter there. Ed Gainer was among them. The tension in the room was suddenly thick and smelled of fear and danger.

Silas strolled over to Ed while Sam and Dean headed for a quiet booth.

Silas looked at Ed and said "Thanks for leaving me behind, asshole. You got my money?"

"Listen, punk, we didn't finish the hunt and now you're walking in with the Winchesters." Ed snarled at him. "What'd ya think? I'm going to fall all over myself to live up to the deal? Tom won't pay me and that means I won't pay you.

"Now that I think about it," Silas snapped back and swiped Ed's beer, "I should have known better. People tried to tell me to stay away from you. That you were no good. I'm just sorry that I was so thick headed that I had to spend a night in the woods to find out they were right."

Ed glared at his beer but was too big of a coward to steal it back. "You better get back to your good buddies, the Winchesters. They staying with you now, you're all such good friends?"

"No, they have a cabin out back." Silas foolishly answered. "I'd invite them to my place if they didn't already have their own."

Ed huffed but had nothing else to say. Just stood and stared at the Winchesters.

XXXXXXX

The next day Sam and Dean spent wandering the landscape along the Wabash River in company with yet another old acquaintance of John Winchester. The man was Harold Percy and he took the boys around the area introducing them to various people who had known John and even Bobby in the old days before West Lafayette was cleaned up. They heard old stories of werewolf hunts and lost loved ones.

Harold was now white haired and run to the fat that active men who stopped moving so much had a tendency to gain. Once a tall, imposing Hunter he had fallen for the sister of a werewolf victim and elected to settle down in West Lafayette. He was, by nature, a gregarious man and became something of a local figure with his stories of ghosts and monsters and werewolves living in the woods.

Harold was happy to accommodate the Winchesters in any way in exchange for new stories. He had pretty much exhausted the local lore and the Winchester's tales of spirit wolves in the Canadian Rockies and haunted houses in Calgary gave Harold a whole bunch of new stories to freshen up his repertory.

It was a pleasant, relaxing day for the brothers. They had no where they needed to be and no pressure to move on down the road to yet another job. Although autumn had settled in to Indiana the days stayed clear and calm; perfect weather for the Festival. No clouds would hide the Hunter's Moon at night and the evening barbecue on the banks of the river was attracting a crowd around The Old Bar.

It was pretty much a shock when they drove back to the bar and spotted obvious law enforcement SVU's in the parking lot. Harold offered to go in and scope the place out. When he returned he had bad news.

"Looks like a policeman's ball in there. The local cops, the Indianapolis FBI and even some special FBI Unit out of Quantico all are taking up table space." Harold stretched his neck out with a popping sound. "What're you guys going to do?"

Dean replied, "Well, we're not going in there. I guess we'll just go hole up in our cabin and hope they go away. As long as nobody flaps their lips I suppose we'll be a safe there as anywhere else."

"Dean, maybe it would be best for us to take off." Sam said.

"Sam, you know what Alice told us. Someone turned her." Dean replied with some heat. "Damn wolf broke into her trailer and gave her bloody hell. Bit her and then sat down and watched her suffer through the change. Cold blooded bastard promised her a cure if she would appear on that hill last night. He promised her a cure we know he didn't have. If we hadn't found her she'd be a pelt on some Hunter's garage door right now."

Sam nodded. "I agree. We need to hunt that wolf down. I think he did that to her just to create bait for us. He needs to be stopped and we need to know why he wants us. But this is more Federal agents than I have ever seen in one place before and they are hunting our asses."

"I agree, Sam." Dean put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Even if they find us you know we can spin them in circles if we have to. Be calm, little brother. I suggest we go get some barbecue and settle in for the night."

"Hey, Harold," Dean asked. "could you do us a little favor? I want to hide the Impala and our weapons for the night, just in case they sneak up on us and I want to talk to that Silas kid again. We have a present for him."

Harold thought for a minute. "We could go back to my house and put her in the garage. I'll drive you back here to sleep. You want Silas now?"

"That would be good." Dean turned to the Impala and opened the trunk. He took out a couple of silver knives and handed one to Sam. Harold took off for the bar.

Dean took out another knife and held it up to the moon. It flashed in the moonlight. It was silver and the blade was curved in a vicious looking arc. In the dim light scroll work and lettering could just be seen running around the hilt and down the flat side of the blade. "You have the Holy Water, Sam?" Dean asked.

Just then a door slammed and Harold and Silas appeared. "Hi guys," Silas said nervously. "Did you finally decide to eat me?"

Dean snorted, "No, you idiot. We have a present for you. If you're going to start hunting we want to make sure that you don't kill anything innocent by accident. If you're going to hang around people like Ed Gainer you're going to need all the help you can get. Come over here."

Dean held the knife out hilt first. "Take this in your hand and hold it out so that the blade is flat. We're going to bless it and then we're going to give it to you to start your own weapons collection. This is going to be a very special knife, keyed to you and you alone. Hold it still."

Sam approached and uncapped his flask. He dribbled water very carefully up and down the blade. Something strange was going on. Dean put his hands under the blade and caught the water dripping off the side. He murmured what sounded like an incantation and the water began to sink into the metal. Both Harold and Silas were shocked. The extra water Dean had caught in his hands he also dribbled over the blade. His voice never stopped and the water disappeared.

All four of the men knew that they had just witnessed magic. They understood what they had seen in various degrees.

"Sam made the knife. I made the blessing. This knife is yours." Dean looked into the young man's eyes. "It is yours and only yours. Name it and keep it with you. Its power is that it will turn away from the innocent. The blade will cut only those that deserve death. Follow its lead."

Silas took the knife and held it up to his face. "What are the words?"

"Sumerian." replied Dean. "The words are old, from the time before Osiris, before the time of Babylon. Keep it safe and it will keep you safe."

XXXXXXX

Early the next morning the Winchesters were pleasantly engaged. Dean had woken up horny and Sam had woken up hard. Dean decided not to let a good erection go to waste and was riding his little brother so hard the headboard was denting the wall.

Sam held Dean's head in his hands and sucked Dean's lips until they were red. They were moaning and telling each other the filthy things that lovers promise and were making so much noise they missed the sound of the local police assembling outside their door.

The West Lafayette police had put together their idea of what a SWAT team should look like, maybe because they found they had a battering ram they had never used. Ed Gainer had told Agent Williamson last night that the Winchesters were holed up in a cabin behind the bar and Williamson had checked last night but the cabin was empty.

Hotchner had convinced Williamson that if they waited until morning the Winchesters would most likely come along peacefully and for once Williamson decided to listen to someone other than himself. He would still get all the glory for capturing guys on the Most Wanted list but he also didn't want to get any of his agents killed accomplishing his objective.

They pounded on the cabin door and made all the noise they could, hollering "Police, open up!" but there was no denying the kind of sounds that were drifting out the cabin's open windows so who knew if the Winchesters heard them.

Hotchner glanced over at David Rossi. "Well, that's not something I ever expected and I'm pretty sure we never put it in our profile."

Rossi grimaced back. "What, that the brothers are lovers? No, that thought never crossed my mind." He looked over at Garcia who was turning a brilliant shade of red.

She looked back at him. "My God, that is so hot! Oh, excuse me, sorry." She started studying the ground at her feet as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

The locals got to use their ram and the first couple of guys rushed into the room with their guns drawn.

They got an excellent view of Dean's naked ass riding Sam's dick. At the noise Dean rose up and off and fell on to the bed beside his brother. "Out, damn it. Out!"

The deputies rushed out again as fast as they had entered and slammed the door, what was left of it, behind them.

"What the hell, Connors." His captain shouted. "What are you doing? Get in there and arrest them."

Connors, put out his hand. "Give them a minute. They're in bed."

"Who the hell cares, wake them up."

Connors shouted back at the captain. "You know they're not asleep. You can hear as good as me but at least you didn't have to see it. You know they're not sleeping. Give them a chance to put on some pants."

Hotchner started laughing. The assembled teams turned as a single unit to look at him.

"You got to admit, it's funny. Your unsubs are screwing and you people turn and ran as fast as if they were shooting at you.

The cabin door was pulled open and Sam and Dean stood at the threshold. They had dressed in haste and were only wearing jeans. They had each grabbed the first pair they came to and were wearing each other's pants. Dean's pair were sliding off his hips and covered his feet. Sam stood behind him dressed in a pair that was too tight and too short. They ended a good four inches above his ankles.

Even so they did not look foolish. They looked sexy with their bare chests and sex flushed faces. Sam was holding on to Dean's shoulders and one of Dean's hands lay on top of his brother's large paw.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Dean said. "Did you want to see us and," he looked at the officers that had made it into the room. "did you see enough?"


	19. Chapter 19-Unveiled Power

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 19

**Unveiled Power**

_How do I love thee? Let me count the ways._

_I love thee to the depth and breadth and height_

_My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight_

_For the ends of Being and ideal Grace._

_I love thee to the level of every day's_

_Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight._

_I love thee freely, as men strive for Right._

_I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise._

_I love thee with the passion put to use_

_In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith._

_I love thee with a love I seemed to lose_

_With my lost saints-I love thee with the breath,_

_Smiles, tears, of all my life!-and if God choose,_

_I shall but love thee better after death._

From **Sonnets from the Portuguese**, published 1850

Sonnet Number 43

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sam and Dean stood in their motel room doorway. Dressed only in the blue jeans they looked like Calendar models. Dean was waif-like in his too large jeans with his gold amulet sparkling on his breast. Sam's too small, too short pants emphasized his long, long legs; they were tight, like a race horse. Power and form was flaunted in the faces of his captors.

Beside him Hotchner heard a deep sigh and wasn't surprised to find Garcia at his elbow. He smiled.

"Deep breaths, Garcia." He glanced down at her wide eyes. "You might want to wipe off the drool, too."

Penny flinched. "Sorry, Boss." She searched through her handbag. "So unprofessional."

"But human." He smiled. "Don't worry about it."

He refocused his attention on his two captives and raised the gun a little higher. "Get the cuffs" he barked at Morgan, who was also focusing his attention on the Winchesters. Morgan holstered his gun and went for the cuffs. Dietrich Kenny passed Morgan his extra pair.

"Hold on, Hotchner." Williamson interjected. "This is my bust and I'll take them in, not your group."

"Oh, yeah?" Another voice joined the discussion and the local sheriff, Captain Dawes made his bid.

"They're going to my jail, my men will take them in and you two can argue about it at the station. Don't forget, I've got a missing woman mystery on my hands and these guys look like my best bet."

Dawes turned to Deputy Connors. "Well Jason, since you know them so well, why don't you get 'em into separate cars and let's get back to the station.

Poor, embarrassed Deputy Connors had to approach Dean and Sam. He slipped behind them and grabbed Dean's arms first. Dean laughed. "You like the rear view, Conners?'

Snarky Dean wiggled his ass at the poor man. "What? You want some too?" Conners turned a red so dark it was almost purple and stared at Deans wrists in the cuffs. He then turned to Sam.

Sam glared at the Deputy. "Don't get any ideas," Sam rumbled. "He belongs to me and you keep your hands to yourself." Sam looked at his brother. "Dean, behave yourself." He ordered.

The Deputy wanted to sink into the ground. His colleagues were snickering and talking behind their hands while eying him up.

"Alright," Connors snapped. "Let's get loaded up and out of here." ´He pushed Dean toward one patrol car and gave Sam's elbow into the Sheriff's custody. For some reason he was suddenly very protective of Dean. He had no idea that Dean was beginning to pulse with a buildup of Tammuz energy.

XXXXXXX

The news of the capture of the Winchester brothers spread like wildfire in the small town and by the time the patrol cars and SUVs arrived at the city jail a fairly decent sized crowd had gathered. Hotchner watched from the quiet of his SUV as the Sheriff's men manhandled the semi naked Winchesters out of the patrol cars.

Murmuring spread through the crowd like a summer breeze as Sam and Dean were exposed in their half-naked glory. A number of flash bulbs went off and some guys with what looked like T.V. recording equipment materialized out in front. Hotchner knew major channel stringers when he saw them and knew there would be pretty pictures on the Indiana cable news channel that evening.

When they exited the patrol cars Sam and Dean gravitated to each other and stood together at the bottom of the steps to the old red brick building with bars on the windows. By the time of their arrival Dean had dialed his energy up to such a point that it was broadcasting into the front edge of the crowd. Poor Connors had been trapped in the patrol car with Dean and at this point would lay down his life to keep Dean safe. He would give up an arm for a kiss.

Dean was smiling, proud of himself and forgot about his very big, very possessive brother until Sam was standing right next to him. "I told you to behave, Dean." He heard Sam growl and a moment later Sam sunk his Sphinx fangs into his brother's shoulder where it curved up into his neck.

The various Deputies rushed forward, not really sure what had just happened. Sam's head had whipped like a cobra and now Dean had blood running down his back and chest.

Sherriff Dawes freaked. "Get them separated! Keep your eyes on the big one and be careful. Get 'em up here and into the cells, separate cells."

"What just happened, Rossi?" Hotchner asked. Rossi shook his head. "I'm not really sure. I was only part way out of the van when it happened but I would guess that Sam just marked Dean. It's sort of a form of discipline between pack mates, I understand."

Rossi stood loosely watching Sam and Dean being hustled up the steps. "I'm not really sure what we have here. This is going to take some investigation."

"And we may not have a lot of time to investigate." Hotchner replied. "Williamson wants this arrest formalized with his named blazoned all over the paperwork. Who knows where these guys will be by this afternoon."

"I don't think it's going to be the best idea to keep moving them around." Rossi said. "I don't like them outside."

"Well, let's go see if we can talk sense to any of these people." Hotchner replied. "Morgan," he called. "Follow them in and don't take your eyes off Sam. Reid, you follow Dean as close as you can."

Hotchner looked at Garcia. "Penny, you're with me and Rossi. Everybody move."

XXXXXXX

Inside the building the boys were put in separate cells. Dean sat still on the edge of his bed as a Deputy acted as a medic and got his wound to stop bleeding and covered it with gauze. By the time the Deputy finished his hands were shaking and if Dean had turned his head and looked into the man's eyes the Deputy thought he would go in for a kiss,

Dean was careful to try and maintain some kind of distance from the people gathered outside the cell but he didn't really have anywhere to go and feared that maybe the Tammuz energy was the only thing keeping him safe. He made a decision that he wasn't going to tone it down. He would just sit patiently and see what Sam decided to do. He had great faith in his little brother.

Outside the building Sheriff Dawes and some Deputies were trying to disperse the crowd. A lot of the people just refused to go. If anything, they were trying to get into the building.

Sheriff Dawes bumped into a dark haired woman. "Oof" she exclaimed and pushed him back. "Watch what you're doing, Dawes."

"Sorry, Alice." The Sheriff said. "It was an accident…..Alice?"

Sheriff Dawes was dumbstruck. "Alice? Alice Conway? Where the hell have you been, woman? We've been looking everywhere for you! Even called in the FBI"

With the 'missing' woman in front of him the Sheriff was suddenly not so sure that he should have taken the Winchesters out of the hands of the FBI.

"Is that Dean Winchester you have in handcuffs, Sheriff? He saved my ass. What have you arrested him for? And what have you been doin in my trailer, Dawes?" Alice flung back. "You don't have any business inside my trailer. There better not be nothing missing."

Alice had never been a pleasant woman and her relationship with the police left a lot to be desired. "I want to see Winchester"

"What do you mean he saved your ass? Where have you been Alice? Why is your trailer wrecked?" Dawes felt like he was sitting and spinning. A little adjustment to his world needed to be made.

"If you wanted to arrest somebody, you should be after that Ed Gainer and his friend Tom. ' Alice yelled. "That bastard hurt me. Hit me and wrecked my kitchen."

"Well, maybe you should come in and make a statement, Alice. We'll track the guy down for you if you want to press charges." Dawes escorted her up the steps, followed by some other people who saw an opportunity to get inside. "Scram, you people!" He shouted. "What the hell is the matter with you? Go home."

Once inside Dawes noticed the crowd gathered in front of Dean Winchester's cell. No one was talking; they were all just staring at the young man. Dean had stripped the blanket from the cell cot and wrapped up in it. Wrapped up like that he looked even younger.

Dawes pushed his way through the small crowd and planted himself in front of SSA Harris Williamson.

"Williamson, my missing woman just showed up outside. I have no interest in these men anymore. Can you get them out of here? "

"Wait," Williamson replied. "Something's going on."

Dawes looked again at the group in front of Dean's cell. Right in front was Pastor Gregory, the local Baptist minister. For some reason the Pastor was on his knees. Dean Winchester was reaching out between the bars as if he was going to touch the man. Dawes was about to hustle forward to stop the action when a hand pulled him back.

"Leave it, " ordered one of the FBI guys. Dawes thought it was the Unit chief, Hotchner. "Something is about to happen and I want to see it."

XXXXXXX

Right after Dean had been locked away in his cell a man had approached him. "Son, I am Pastor Gregory. I just want you to know, no matter what evil you have done, the Lord will forgive if you approach him with a truly penitent heart."

Dean flicked an eyebrow, "Boy, you holy rollers don't waste any time, do you? "

The Pastor looked insulted. "You may scoff but I bring you tidings of great joy. The Lord forgives all sinners, even the lowest of the low."

Dena looked around at his assembled audience and he couldn't help himself. I thrill of mischief ran through him. "What do you think I am, Pastor?"

"You wouldn't be in that cell if you were not a sinner, son." The pompous old man intoned.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Pastor. Did you forget that one? Or is it only in the Constitution and not in your Bible? I forget."

The old man looked even more insulted but under his stiff necked rigidly Dean sensed other factors at play. "Pastor, are you well? Is there something wrong with you?"

The clergy man clutched his Bible to his chest. "How do you know that?" His voice trembled.

Dean smiled at the old man. "Hit your knees, Pastor, your God told me. I have been brought to this cell to heal you and yours."

The old man crumpled. "How is this possible? You know about my wife too?"

"Come closer. Come close enough for me to touch you." Dean intoned. "The oldest of your God's brothers has sent me here for you." Inside Dean was laughing. He did have a bit of a mean streak in him and besides, the good brother was locked up down the hall. Dean really wanted to see Sam.

Dean put his hand on the Pastor's head and a mild explosion of light shot out into the room. The Pastor leaned forward and took a deep breath. "My God, praise my God."

"No," Dean whispered, "Praise Tammuz."

The old man got back to his feet. "Can I bring my wife?"

Dean backed up all the way to the back wall of his cell. "You can bring her after I get to see my brother. I want Sam brought here. He looked at the silent crowd assembled. "Did you people hear that? I want my brother here."

There was noise now, coming down the hallway. Shouting and cries of "What is it?"

Dean smiled. "Oh wait, this might be Sam now."


	20. Chapter 20 -Sic 'em Sammy

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Hunter's Moon**

Chapter 20

"**Sic 'em, Sammy**

_For I will consider my cat, Jeoffry_

_For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him_

_For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary_

_For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes_

_For He counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about his life,_

_For having considered God and himself, he will consider his neighbor_

_For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness._

_For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance_

_For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying_

_For he is of the Tribe of Tiger_

_For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger_

_ooOoo_

_ooOoo_

_ooOoo_

A fragment from a poem called Rejoice in the Lamb by the English poet Christopher Stuart

Written between 1756 and 1763 while confined in a madhouse.

From the end of Chapter 19:

Dean retreated all the way to the back wall of his cell. "You can bring her after I get to see my brother. I want Sam brought here. He looked at the silent crowd assembled. "Did you people hear that? I want my brother here."

There was noise now, coming down the hallway. Shouting and cries of "what is it?'

Dean smiled "Oh wait, this might be Sam now."

Derek Morgan of the BAU was the first of the crowd to spot the figure moving down the hall from the direction of Sam Winchester's cell. Since Derek had met Sam's cat form previously that was what he expected to see and he raised his gun. Others at the back of the crowd noticed his movement and tried to see what he was looking at.

Derek put out a hand and grabbed Hotchner's arm. Hotchner did the same to the others around him and the figure in the hallway gathered its own audience.

Dean's voice rose in the background. "Don't try to shoot my brother, talk to him."

Other voices were raised in supplication. "Can I bring my mother, my son, my wife? Can you cure my lover, my baby, my husband?" The murmurs were getting louder, like ocean waves kissing the sandy shore.

Derek saw the Pastor move to the entrance, with his phone pressed to his ear. The sound of the crowd outside also rose in volume. Derek wondered what was going on but his attention was on the hallway phantom.

It was the size and height of Sam Winchester and it was in the shape of an enormous cat but there was no color. The image shimmered like water and as it passed from light to light the image faded on the approach then glittered when the light hit it from behind.

"What is it?" Garcia asked.

"I have no idea" was Hotchner's response. She then turned her head and looked at Derek.

"What is It, sugar pie?" she questioned. "It looks like Sam's cat but why is it transparent? Do you have a guess about what's going on?"

Derek shook his head at her and kept his gun aimed at the figure. His actions were gathering more and more of the crowd's attention. "Hotch, what do you think is going on outside? Why are they getting louder? I wish something around here would suddenly make sense. My nerves would appreciate the break."

Hotchner lips twitched in a small smile and he said. "Ok, Morgan, you watch this what-ever-it-is and I'll go find out what happening outside. Come on Rossi. Be my back-up. Garcia, Reid, stick with Morgan." The two older agents left for the front entrance. Hotchner noticed that the FBI contingent, Ray Ellis, Harris Williamson and Dietrich Kenny, were all keeping a close eye on Dean Winchester.

Normally, with this many agents and officers available, Hotchner would feel that everything was firmly under control. But here, in this place, there was a strong current of the unnatural. Events were taking place and forces were being unleashed that he couldn't even name, let alone control. The best he could do was maybe crowd control. He didn't know if there was anyone here that could handle the weird side.

Hotch and Rossi stepped out on the front stairway. In front of them was a crowd of perhaps 200 people. As soon as they were outside people began to yell questions at them. "Is it true? Can he heal people? What is he? Have you arrested one of God's chosen?" These and other questions were thrown up at them.

Hotchner was stunned. He turned to Rossi. "How do they all know about that?" Rossi shrugged and then tipped his head towards Pastor Gregory. Even from a distance of 8 feet they could hear the old man hollering into the phone. "Yes, my lungs are fixed! Get your mother down here. Stop arguing."

Rossi snorted "I guess all the sermonizing gave him a voice that carries."

"Stop it, Rossi, Not funny."

Two older men pushed their way to the front of the crowd. "You the FBI?"

Hotch nodded at the men.

"We're Karl and Earl Montain." the bearded man said. "We're friends of the Winchester family. I understand that you have Sam and Dean locked up in there. What do you want them for? Alice Conway's disappearance?" He stopped talking and looked around. "Hey, Alice. "he shouted. "Get over here."

A tall, hard looking woman approached the group. "What'd you want, Earl?" she responded.

"Are you missing, Alice?" he snarked at her. "Have you disappeared without a trace?"

Alice glared at him. "You wish." She turned back to the crowd.

"That's good, Earl," Rossi said. "But there's still the little problem of your friends being on the FBI's most wanted list."

A ripple spread through the crowd. A van had pulled up behind them and a man was helping a woman in a wheelchair navigate the van's handicapped lift. A muttering went through the crowd again when Pastor Gregory stepped to the edge of the stairway entrance and waved his hands to indicate the wheelchair ramp.

"Pastor's wife. Old lady Gregory. Hasn't walked in years. What's she doing here" It must be true" Hotch heard all these fragments float up from the crowd.

Then, suddenly, behind him there was shouting and the pounding of feet. He and Rossi moved back into the building. Karl and Earl Montain followed them through the entrance. The crowd surged forward, trying to follow inside but a Deputy stepped in front of the doors, arms raised. Pastor Gregory's son, the man who had helped Mrs. Gregory out of the van, frantically pushed his mother up the ramp and his father started to argue with the Deputy.

Back inside Hotch and Rossi found another whirlpool of activity. "Morgan.' Hotchner called. "What's going on ?"

Morgan didn't appear but Penny Garcia answered Hotch's call. "You should have seen it." She babbled. "It was his spirit, pure spirit." She breathed in. "It went right into the cell. Right through the bars"

"Whoa, you mean it was Sam Winchester's spirit walking around in the hallway? That's a new trick."

"Garcia started up again. "When it got in the cell Dean said 'You forgot your body, Sam. Go get it . I'll wait here." And now Sam's walking around as the cat. People are freaking."

""I can see that", Hotchner said. "Where is he?" He looked up and the Sphinx appeared walking along the far end of the room, evidently heading for Dean.

"Come on, let's go." Hotch charged with Garcia and Rossi right behind him. The cat turned to look at them and they scooted down the passage way to Dean's cell. Another loud sound came from the front of the building. Later they would piece everything together and find out it was Pastor Gregory's son ramming, successfully, the front doors open with his mother's wheelchair. The Gregory family started chasing the FBI agents.

"Wonderful," Rossi shouted. "When do the Ferris Wheel and the Cotton Candy stand arrive? This place is turning into a carnival. "

They all arrived in a rush in front of Dean's cell. "Open the cell." Hotchner shouted. Agent Williamson looked affronted.

""Why the hell would we do that, Hotchner?" Williamson waved a gun in the Dean's direction. "Dangerous murderer here, remember?"

Just then Pastor Gregory dragged his wife in her wheelchair up against the bars. "Heal her! You said you would heal her! Do it!" he shouted at Dean. Gregory's son banged the wheelchair against the steel bars, making everyone around their group flinch at the clanging noise.

"Rudy," the Pastor growled. "Stop using your mother as a battering ram. That chair is going to collapse."

Dean came forward. Agent Williamson raised his gun and the Pastor stepped in front of it. "Don't even think about it buddy. You can shoot him after he cures her."

As Dean approached his energy began to wash over the people closest to him and they began to calm down. Unfortunately Williamson seemed out of range.

Hotchner saw Sheriff Dawes standing near Williamson. He looked lost, confused and pissed off. After all, this was his jurisdiction people were trampling. Hotch decided to help him out of his daze.

"Sheriff Dawes," he called out. "You have a potential mob outside. All of them want in here and I don't think that Deputy outside is going to be able to stop them. Last I saw him he was arguing with the Pastor and now Pastor Gregory is not only here, he brought the family. That man out front needs help."

Buoyed up by the prospect of a task he could handle, Dawes barked out "Ok, men! Let's get this place covered. Some of you go back up Johnson on the front doors before we have half the population of West Lafayette in here."

Hotchner called out again. "Sheriff, could you open the cell door for me.?"

Dawes didn't hesitate. "Whatever you want, Agent Hotchner. Just let me know how I can help."

He pulled the cell keys out and went to unlock Dean's cell. The rest of his men headed out to the building's doors except for the Deputy closest to Dean. It didn't seem that he could take his eyes off Dean's face.

Agent Williamson moved towards Dean's cell door as it was opened. Hotchner pulled the man back. "I would try to stay out of the way, Harris. I think Sam is going to be here soon and I have seen what happens to people who threaten Sam's brother."

As the words left Hotchner's lips the Sphinx appeared in the cell block's doorway. He was in full out cat mode and his wings were slightly spread, making him look even bigger than the BAU agents remembered. He pulled his lips back and hissed at the nearest people. There was no problem in clearing his path to Dean.

It had been Hotchner's plan to close Dean's cell door once both brothers were in there but now he realized that whoever moved towards that door would be killed before they could insert and turn the key to lock the brothers in. He decided just to stand and watch the brothers in action.

Dean had moved forward in the cell, until he was right up against the bars. He reached his hand out to the Pastor's wife and simply rested it on her knee. The woman took a deep breath and relaxed at his touch. She seemed to straighten in her chair and her husband and son stood beside her, protecting her. No matter what your opinion of their religious beliefs was, these three people loved each other.

Dean stood holding on to a bar with his other hand. Unexpectedly someone touched that hand and then grasped it firmly. Dean looked to see who had taken his hand and found a Deputy at arm's length clinging tightly to him. With one hand on the woman's knee and one captured by the Deputy, Dean was pulled against the bars. Protectively Sam moved behind him and held on around his waist, scanning the crowd for threats.

The woman sighed and so did the Deputy. Dean looked at them and they seemed stronger, more tightly tied to the world, no longer marked as Death's chosen. He and Sam started to move. They went to the cell door and passed through. Hotchner and his agents and Karl and Earl Montain encircled them, preventing anyone else from getting close.

"I've seen what Sam Winchester is capable of in this form," Hotchner said. "Keep your distance and don't upset him."

Sam wrapped his wings around his brother. Dean extended his hand to those reaching for him as the oddly composed group moved towards the front entrance. Those people he touched dropped out after a few moments and, for the most part, went and sat down somewhere, separated from the group, sated.

They finally reached outside and faced the crowd gathered at the bottom of the stairs. Karl and Earl flanked the brothers and Karl stretched up to Sam's ear and whispered. "Sam, I'm going to point out Ed Gainer. The guy standing to his right is that "Tom" character that was paying to hunt you down. If you want to go get him me and Earl will stay with Dean."

The Sphinx looked down into Karl's eyes and nodded his agreement. Dean also heard Karl's whisper and looked over his shoulder at The Sphinx and smiled. "Sic 'em, Sammy." he ordered and Karl pointed at Ed Gainer.

Karl and Earl started shouting at the crowd, "Stay out of his way! Don't' touch him! "and other warnings. The crowd parted, clearing a path straight to Ed Gainer and his companion.

Sam shoved Dean into Karl's arms and exploded into movement. He leaped down the stair, his wings fully extended and when he hit the ground he was on all four feet. Gathering his legs underneath him he ran like a cheetah, fully extended at first, his back flexed and then arched, and his feet drew back under, completing a 12 foot or larger leap. He was fast, he was beautiful and he was the most frightening thing most of these people, excluding the Hunters, had ever seen and he was headed directly at Tom.

Tom turned and ran then suddenly wasn't a man any more. Sam was chasing a wolf. Tom was a werewolf, large, black and cruel looking. Up on the steps Dean realized why Tom had wanted them dead. The Winchesters were the strongest wolf Hunters known. Dean speculated that Tom had perhaps wanted to create a pack on such open territory and conceived a strategic strike aimed at getting the Winchesters out of the way.

As Dean watched Sam run the wolf down and clamp his fangs through the back of its neck, Dean wondered if the wolf was outright crazy. Even if the Winchesters fell, Dean knew that there were some damn fine hunters in West Lafayette. He didn't think Tom's pack would have lasted long.

It didn't matter now what Tom thought. Sammy was still in full cat mode and was dragging Tom's body, which was slowing transforming back to human, back to the group, The Sphinx held his head high He was big, graceful and proud of himself. It was hard to believe he ever was a man. He was more a whole new, or very, very old, breed of hunting cat.

He dragged Tom's body into the parted crowd, found Alice Conway and laid Tom's body at her feet. Alice raised her hand and in an act of unparalleled bravery, scratched the Sphinx's ears. "Thank you," she said. Then she laughed, "Good Kitty."


End file.
